Wine Futures of a Different Kind
Rebuttal to St. Helena Star Editorial of 1/15/15, Winery Debate Must be Based on Facts.
Climate, Wine and Conservation: A Paper
California Groundwater Management Act
A Winery EIR Analysis in Healdsburg -- shows how.
Napa County Event Center/Winery Possible Sites
How the WasteWater system works in Napa County
Silicon Valley Bank Wine Report on the Future
Small Winery Referendum
On Friday, February 7, 2014, 556 signatures were filed with the St. Helena City Clerk to repeal the Amendments to the St. Helena Small Winery Ordinance or allow voters to vote on them at the November election.
There is an on-going state-wide push by the Small Winery industry in California to move manufacturing facilities and marketing events into the previously zoned residential and strictly agricultural parcels within many rural communities. These small towns are experiencing conflicts between residents trying to protect their own investments against the onslaught of direct-to-consumer selling. The genesis of the problem is the hour-glass business model that the small wineries cannot figure out how to fix. There is a lot of wine on top, a constricted knothole of distributors which keep the wine from markets and a lot of consumers on the bottom. To outflank these controlling distributors, small wineries are literally invading new real estate and bringing with them as loose an interpretation of marketing events as possible.
The following are several links which relate to this issue:
The City Council passed amendments to the Small Winery Ordinance on Tuesday, Jan. 14, and they would have become law 30 days from that date. The Referendum was filed with the St. Helena City Clerk on Feb. 7, 2014 with 556 signatures, far exceeding the required 320. The Ordinance was repealed on February 11. Proponents may now attempt to pass a different version of the Ordinance.
- This is the Introduction to the 1993 General Plan. It is the Plan that is currently law since a new Plan has not been adopted -- it's basically the "Constitution" of a town and is required of every city in California. This Introduction lays out the Guiding Principles from which Policies and Implementing Actions are derived. These Guiding Principles strongly support residential quality of life.
- Here are the Land Use sections of the 1993 General Plan as they apply to Agriculturally zoned land.
- Original Small Winery Ordinance.with highlighted sections of what is being changed.
- The new Ordinance, as it was passed by the City Council on Jan.14, 2013.
- Map of all the possible affected parcels.
- Water Requirements for Small Wineries
- The Resolution repealing the Small Winery & A-20 Amendments -- see rationale.
- The Small Winery Zoning Ordinance that will be the law after the repeal.
- The current Winery District Zoning law for larger parcels.
- The General Plan re Zoning. This is official process in the Municipal Code for how amendments to the General Plan interact with the Zoning law. Please take few minutes and read this because the General Plan is the City's "rudder" -- it steers the ship. It is important that everyone realize that all good planning and re-zoning begins with the General Plan.
- Winery Tasting Rooms - Discussion May 6, 2014, Planning Commission.
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Opposition letters in 2010 to the Winery Definition Ordinance - WDO.
Nancy Citro's Email from Healdsburg
Sandy Ericson's Letters to Editor: Small Winery Ordinance
Silicon Valley Bank 2014 Wine Report
A Synopsis of the Report From Local Impact Viewpoint
Image of Hankin cartoon reprinted by permission from the New Yorker Magazine.