Bill Hocker | Aug 17, 2017

[Letter drafted, but not, I think, sent prior to the finalization of the BOS vote on 5/23/17]

Board of Supervisors,

On Tuesday, you will finalize the denial of 4 neighbor appeals of the Planning Commission's approval of the Mountain Peak Winery. Mountain Peak, as you know, will be a new winery, 100,000 g/y with 14,600 annual visitors, 19 daily employees, and parking for 28 cars. It is located up a winding dead end road, 6 miles from the Silverado trail, and is surrounded by residential-vineyard properties, our own included. It will be the first tourism-centered facility in this remote area of the county. It will change the rural character of our community.

At this point the appeals have been denied and the event on Tuesday is intended to dot the i's and be done with it. But it is also another opportunity to speak about the significance of the urban development that you continue to promote and approve throughout the county. Ours is just one of numerous projects that represent a wave of development beginning to impact the rural and small-town character of our neighborhoods and the character of the county as a whole. And as have we, other communities have begun to push back. Woolls Ranch, Yountville Hill, Girard, Reverie, Melka, Walt Ranch, Syar, Brehmer, Bell, Raymond. The development wave is extensive: 150 winery projects are approved or in the pipeline, but not yet built. Almost 4 million sf of commercial space has been approved or is proposed, some 2500 hotel rooms, some 3700 homes and apartments.

This winery does not need to exist. Wine from the property's vines is already being made. In fact, as with most new winery projects being approved, the vineyard will be reduced to accommodate the winery. And the wine being made is already being sold in the brand's tasting room across from the Archer Hotel, as well as online. What economic benefit this building will bring to the county as a whole or the survival of the "wine industry" is highly speculative. The change it will make to the character of Soda Canyon Road and its residents sense of community is undeniable.

All of the new wineries that are being approved, at the rate of one a month, are equally unnecessary. The number of producing vineyard acres in the county has increased by 1000 acres since 2007, yet almost 6 million gallons of new production capacity have been approved, needing 10,000 acres of vines. That additional production capacity has hardly moved the Napa wine being produced. But those approvals have also opened up 2.4 million new visitation slots.

Over 150 residents of Soda Canyon Road signed the petition opposing the construction of this winery. Over 800 residents of Napa County signed the petition opposing this winery. As we know, the planning commission and you seem to pay no attention to petitions. All of those signatures are deemed worthless compared to the interests of one wealthy individual wishing to transform community character to their egotistical benefit.

You have one last vote to do the right thing, and find that this project is NOT appropriate for this remote location. I urge you to do so.

Bill Hocker
Soda Canyon Road

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