Attendee Limits on Wine Country Events Debated

A developer with interests in Wine Country pushed today to raise the limit of people allowed at special events facilities.

Dan Stephenson, the chairman of the Rancon Group, urged county officials to raise the limit of people allowed to attend special events in Wine Country.

Rancon opened three wineries this year, collectively called Europa Village Wineries, Resort & Spa, and has plans to build 58 high-end houses in the surrounding area.

The requires a special events facility to have 20 acres, and it allows five guests per acre at events.

This limit is not "economically viable," he said during a meeting of the at today.

The committee met for the last time today to put the finishing touches on a plan which aims to guide future development in Wine Country.

Stephenson was one of the first members on the advisory committee when it started two and a half years ago. "We got a gold mine in the wine industry out here, and we've never laid out the boundaries," Stephenson said.

The committee was then only six members, though it swelled to 19 in the following years.

When representatives of residents joined the committee, they began pushing to keep the region rural and prevent over-development.

To read about those efforts,

During the meeting, Stephenson asked to have the limit increased to as many as 20 people per acre.

Parking problems

As it is, too many people park their cars along roads and in open fields when a winery holds an event, some committee members said.

"I'd rather keep it lower. They can get special permits for special events," Elisa Niederecker said after the meeting. "That's a lot of traffic coming through. You really need to keep a cap on it."

There is no way to keep several wineries from putting on special events at the same time, creating a potential traffic nightmare if left unlimited, she said.

Some committee members asked to change the policy to limit attendees only by how many parking spaces the facility has.

No changes were made to the plan in this regard to make it simpler to study the potential impact the plan will have on the local environment and quality of life, said Mitra Mehta-Cooper, the county's principal planner.

Noise pollution

Noise was also a concern for some residents.

"Oak Mountain is behind me, and they have a 100 people limit (for its special events), and it's way too loud," said Heidi Betz, an attendee at the meeting and a Wine Country resident.

Holding special events is essential for a winery to stay in business, Stephenson said during the meeting.

"We've been oversensitive to residents about noise," he said. "The pendulum has gone too far."

Special events are supposed to be a secondary use for a winery, according to the plan.

A winery's viability is not the responsibility of its neighbors, said Betz. "It's not fair to impose your business on other people around you," she said. "(Keeping the business afloat) is not my problem as a neighbor."

Supporting the increase

Some residents thought the increase was a good idea.

"I don't see a problem with it," said local resident Fred Bartz. He felt there was ample parking in the vast, rural Wine Country landscape to accommodate more people than five people per acre.

The limit makes it hard to put on an event, especially for smaller businesses, said Al Abbott, a Wine Country resident and budding winemaker.

A winery makes most of its money through special events and wine tasting rooms, he said. "There's no money in making wine."