Fear of “Big Wine” influence on ‘Local Coastal Plan’ ignites activists

County staff says new language in plan does not allow unfettered growth of event and wine destinations
Coastal protection activists are expressing concern as the county finalizes the first of a four-phase process to review and update the Local Coastal Plan (LCP).
Land use activists have been appearing at intersections in Sebastopol and at farmers’ markets to raise awareness of the policy change process.
Some activists and resident see the current language in the plan as a way of making it easier for wineries to operate event centers and tasting rooms on the coast.
Janus Mathes has been out in public to talk with people and gather petition signatures. “Nothing is sacred in the wine industry,” said Mathes, “Everything gets degraded.”
Mathes and her fellow activists are concerned that the language being added to the LCP is too similar to the policy which governs land-use of inland areas and raise concerns that erosion and short water supplies are not being fully considered in the guidelines of the LCP.
They are demanding that an Environmental Impact Report be drafted and presented in the update process.
Currently, the Coastal Zone has two tasting rooms and no wineries.  Sandi Potter, Environmental Review and Comprehensive Planning Manager at Sonoma County’s Permit and Resource Management Department, said that some people seem to misunderstand where the Coastal Zone begins and ends. T
he Local Coastal Zone is defined as the area from the main high tide to the highest first ridge.
Potter said the language introduced in the new section of the plan, titled the Agricultural Resource Element, does not change land use or permitting policies.
“There are some changes to the language, but it is consistent with existing local coastal policy and general plan policy, we wouldn’t be seeing a change in how wineries or events are permitted in the coastal zone,” Potter said.
The plan accounts for expected growth within the coastal zone, mainly in and around Bodega Bay and The Sea Ranch. Bodega Bay is expected to see a population increase of about 3,000 residents by 2020.
Activists fear roads are too congested already and that the LCP does not account for traffic mitigation that they say would be exacerbated by tourists visiting wine related destinations.
Potter says that activists appear to have three main misconceptions about the LCP update. The first is that language regarding agricultural policies, which does include vineyards, being added to the document is not new but had been listed previously in an appendix.
“There was a misunderstanding about what the policies have always been, and we brought those forward (in the document) because the new update is creating one single integrated document,” Potter said.
The second problem that Potter sees from activists is regarding the timeline of the update.
Over the summer, five workshops were held in the West County and in Santa Rosa. The most recent was in Timber Cove where many activists from the organization Wine Water Watch were in attendance and voicing concerns about the LCP document.
Potter said this is part of the first phase and the document currently presented in a preliminary first draft is open to revision based on public input. Although the first phase ended on Sept. 30, the time for comment and input continues as the draft is altered.
Lastly, Potter said that how wineries and event centers are categorized is often a point of confusion.
“People struggle with whether a winery is agricultural processing or an industrial-commercial use,” said Potter. The county’s General Plan considers processing and promotion as part of agriculture, she said.
For those that would like to get involved in the process of the LCP update, which still has another 18 months and three phases, more information is available at sonoma-county.org/prmd/docs/coastal
The LCP for Sonoma County was first drafted in 1980. In 1976, California passed the Coastal Act replacing the Coastal Initiative set into law in 1972.
The Coastal Act transferred the responsibility of generating a coastal plan from the state to coastal regions.
The law requires that the LCP be reviewed every five years and cover a 20 year planning period, bring local government plans and regulations, as well as those of all public agencies, into conformance with Coastal Act policies.