Bill Hocker | Jan 22, 2015

At a recent community meeting a neighbor of the Walt property brought up a comment that Supervisor Dillon had made at the appeal of the Woolls Ranch hearing regarding the profitability of agriculture. I went back and looked at the video of the comments that the Supervisor made at the end of the hearing and they are well worth discussing. Her notes are important, not lease because she will be presiding over the Supervisor's major review of development policy this year. I would like to think that I can glean some insight into her thinking, but reading the tea leaves of her comments is not easy.

On Nov 22nd 2014 at the appeal hearing for the Woolls Ranch Winery on Mt. Veeder Rd., Supervisor Dillon in closing remarks spoke about her feelings concerning the protection of agriculture and the WDO. The Hearing Video is here Supervisor Dillon's summation begins at 3:39:30 into the video (sorry I still haven't figured out embed videos or jump in at a particular place)

The specific comment that the neighbor brought up was:

"We have got to protect agricultural land. That's the question. How do we do it? And If its not profitable folks, we won't be able to protect it. That's the bottom line. It's more profitable to sell this land for housing. How do we protect it for agriculture... We have to be really carful because this land is so much more valuable not for agriculture but for other things and if we stop allowing agriculture as an active, flourishing, sustainable use of the land were sunk."

The statement is a bit contradictory, perhaps reflecting the two attitudes in the room opposing business as usual: Those that don't see agriculture as more important than say oak woodlands or water, and those that don't see tourism as the right way to increased profitability. Even in the vintners wildest fantasies, wine theme parks are not going to be as profitable as housing subdivisions, shopping centers or industrial parks. So it is a question of just how relatively unprofitable can agriculture be and still be a sustainable use of the land.

There are a million issues that she brought up that need discussion: commercial kitchens, hillside vineyards, use-permits for the land or user

The one issue that she brought up, beginning with the intro "To the serious concerns..." was dear to our hearts up on Soda Canyon Road:

The interpretive guidance that is attached to resolution no 2010-48, the famous change to the Winery Definition Ordinance, or perhaps infamous, says that with regard to appropriate intensity of marketing programs that "the county is going to consider the remoteness of the location and the amount of wine to be produced when reviewing use permit proposals." ...That's the guidance that we've given to the planning commission because these are discretionary permits and we don't have a cookie cutter system - you have 50,000 gals you get to have this many permits. I mean, we are looking at these with some flexibility and I think that Mr. McDowell has been accurate in his comments when he says that we have been moving more in that direction.

Unfortunately, she then rejected the appeal of the Woolls decision, effectively granting permission for an "intense" event center in a remote location. As I said, Supervisor Dillon's tea leaves are difficult to read.

copyright © sodacanyonroad.org