Cindy Grupp | May 19, 2014

[Letter to Supervisor Bill Dodd]

Dear Bill,

I wanted to follow-up on my earlier voice mail regarding the Mountain Peak Winery. As I said, I am contacting you on behalf of a coalition of residents of Soda Canyon, Foss Valley and Loma Vista Rd.

The MPW project, which is currently in the permitting process, could well be the poster child for what's gone wrong with the WDO given the sheer magnitude of the project and in particular given its rural location approximately 6 miles up Soda Canyon Rd.

The scope of the project includes:

Winery production of 100,000 gals of 44,000 cases per year.

Approximately 80,000 square feet of enclosed space, 65,000 square feet of which will be caves.

19 full-time employees, 4 part-time employees year round, 4 seasonal employees during harvest/crush, additional vineyard workers, delivery trucks, etc.

Hours of operation - 6am - 6pm.

Tasting, tours and events which will include a full service Tasting Room open 7 days/week, 10am-6pm. Outdoor Picnic Areas open 7 days/week, 10am-6pm. Marketing Events from 10am-10pm. All to accommodate up to 17,300 visitors/tourists per year.

Specific concerns of the residents include traffic and road safety, fire safety and water impact.

A Winery/Tourist Facility of this size and scope belongs on the Silverado Trail, NOT at the end of a 6 mile, 2 lane, steep , dangerous, dead-end country road. The Board of Supervisors established a precedent by allowing only extremely limited tasting access to Atlas Peak Winery (now Antica Napa Valley) at the end of Soda Canyon Rd. If this project is built it will set a new precedent for future developments of similar size and scale on the Rector Canyon watershed. The long-term consequences of approval are many, with no reasonably positive outcome for the residents of Soda Canyon Rd.

Again, I would like to invite you to meet with members of the Soda Canyon community at a BBQ to be held on Saturday, May 31 at 2:30 pm at 3460 Soda Canyon Rd., the home of Bill Hocker and Mui Ho.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Cindy Grupp

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