Bill Hocker | Aug 1, 2015 on: APAC

I transcribed this one exchange from from the July 27th APAC meeting during the definition-of-agriculture discussion. I found it again only in November. It is a perfect example of Bruce Phillips' precise extemporaneous eloquence and is his major plea regarding the "crux" that caused the creation of APAC: the role of tourism in winery proliferation.

Bruce Phillips: "Staff's recount of the definition of agriculture, in deference to Mr. Dwyer's comments, raises in my mind some dissonance in terms of agriculture as defined in AG/LU-2 inclusive of related marketing, sales and accessory uses and tying that to the right to farm. I think, to Mr. McCrea's point, we are gathered here because of a level of concern by the general public specific to hospitality and marketing activities within approved wineries. And I offer that perhaps this [relationship of marketing to agriculture] could have been achieved in a different construct: a more refined definition of agriculture, but in sub sections that allowed permitted accessory or ancillary uses which included sales and marketing activity. The unintended consequences that were adopted, inventing again the definition of agriculture, could well have been, subsequent to its embrace in 2008, that staff and the commission broadened their view to a point where you run the risk of allowing marketing activities to press the bounds of ancillary or subordinate activity. That is the crux of what were here to talk about . As it's played out, it allows for that misinterpretation and a broadening of sales and marketing activities which are clearly stated to be ancillary and subordinate within the definition of agriculture. Personally I see that as you allow that to continue under the right to farm ordinance it allows facilities that focus perhaps inappropriately in terms of the amount of hospitality on a given site to run at odds with their neighbors who are bearing the brunt of such activity in terms of noise and traffic and otherwise, and yet they are held harmless under the right to farm. I don't know that that was the intent of the right to farm ordinance within Napa County but it certainly could be used in this case. It raises some concern."

Ted Hall: "What would you propose?"

Phillips: "Perhaps we consider recommending a more constrained definition of agriculture and within perhaps an LU-2.1 we speak to permitted ancillary and subordinate uses that are clearly subordinate and ancillary, namely marketing and sales. I would like to see a delink in the interest of neighborly relations of the right to farm with sales and marketing activities and hospitality interests at a winery."

Although shelved in the APAC recommendations, the incidental and subordinate language in the main definition of agriculture was recommended as an addition to the APAC recommendations and sent on the the BOS by the Planning Commission.