Bob Dwyer | Jun 22, 2015 on: APAC

Good morning Chair Hall and members of the committee, thank you for your service. I would certainly like to point out that the Grand Jury final report dated May 12, 2015 is out and if you have not seen this document you should get a copy of it. The Napa County Grand Jury recommended ( and I hope you take this into consideration with your recommendation during your deliberations) that “the County Board Of Supervisors and The Planning Commissioners determine whether the Winery Definition Ordinance as written provides the regulatory framework necessary to maintain a winery industry that is consistent with the Agricultural Preserve Ordinance.” That is key; that is important. Let us reflect back to that. I would recommend that the purpose of the Winery Definition Ordinance be considered as one of the primary goals of these deliberations. And also I suggest, that the definition of agriculture be returned to its original intent when we put the Agricultural Preserve Ordinance together in 1968. We should eliminate marketing and accessory uses from the definition of agriculture. They are no longer necessary. The wine industry pleaded that it was needed at the time the recession was wreaking havoc within the industry, but at this point I think we're beyond that. The investments now being seen, in terms of new wineries and expansions would indicate that obviously there is no problem anymore with marketing wine. Obviously we’re going to have more and more wineries, we’re going to have larger and larger wineries, and that is a pretty good indication that all is well in the wine industry today.