Winery events focus of study session

County studying impacts of promotional events on rural areas
What to do about the profusion of promotional parties at Sonoma County wineries will be the focus of a Sonoma County Board of Supervisors study session next Tuesday (July 12).
“This study session will provide an overview of policy options” to balance wine industry event impacts “with the need to protect neighborhood character and address land use compatibility issues,” said Fifth District Supervisor Efren Carrillo, in a media announcement for next week’s study session.
Neighbors and even some winery owners have lodged concerns and asked for greater clarity about permit rules that apply to the increasing number and intensity of wine country promotional events.
The public session next week will include a look at county general plan policies that are supposed to guide winery promotional and event activities.
Critics say some wineries host marketing events without any permits or review of traffic, noise and other compatibility issues.
The Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management Department (PRMD) has been conducting workshops on the impact of winery marketing events that draw crowds to normally quiet rural agricultural landscapes such as Healdsburg’s Dry Creek Valley and along Westside Road.
The Winery Working Group began meeting last year looking for common ground regarding the wine industry’s use of lavish promotional events to market wine, and the neighborhood disruption that occurs when crowds of winery visitors converge on rural county roads for a day of wine tasting and snacking under the rationale that it’s promoting agriculture.
Next week PRMD will provide an overview of general plan policies related to winery events and key issues that have emerged during the county permitting process.
PRMD staff collected input and comments at winery event public workshops attended by an estimated 500 people last year, said PRMD Communications Manager Maggie Fleming.
Next week’s session will include a report on outcomes from these events and initial ideas about events, concentration, standards for future wineries and enforcement of the rules, said Fleming.
The board is not scheduled to make any formal decision regarding winery policies next week, said Fleming. Instead the board will consider adopting a “resolution of intention” directing PRMD staff to prepare a draft ordinance to amend the county zoning code to include development criteria and standards for winery events, said Fleming.
The ordinance will by considered at a public hearing to be held probably later this year.
Next Tuesday’s study session is scheduled to start around 3 p.m. at the Board of Supervisors’ chambers in Santa Rosa.