The Napa Valley's William Harrison Vineyards & Winery can keep on hosting tasting guests after a successful, multi-year quest to voluntarily legalize code violations, though it must make some expensive improvements.
The winery must install a left-turn lane on the Silverado Trail. It also must drill a new well and install a 10,000-gallon tank. Only then can it have the maximum number of visitors that is now legal, having to take a phased approach until then.
Napa County likely would have required the same of any winery at that location seeking the requested number of visitors. But since this was a code violation case, the requirements come after the fact.
Harrison said installing the turning lane will cost close to a million dollars.
On Wednesday, county Planning Manager Michael Parker, acting as the zoning administrator, approved the William Harrison winery requests. Five years after Harrison submitted his application, matters were wrapped up in a 10-minute public hearing.
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The William Harrison winery southeast of St. Helena was approved in 1986 with a small winery exemption. Napa County says wineries that participated in this long-defunct program agreed not to produce more than 20,000 gallons of wine annually or have visitors, in return for streamlined approvals.
But the winery has hosted about 5,000 guests a year. Harrison decided to seek the use permit needed to allow that existing visitation, plus seek a few hundred more guests through increased marking events.
Harrison enrolled five years ago in the county's code compliance program. That program allowed wineries to voluntarily step forward with violations and keep the status quo while trying to correct violations.
Attorney Scott Greenwood-Meinert, speaking on the winery's behalf, called Harrison the "epitome of the small farmer in Napa Valley," the type who personally takes on such jobs as bolting down tanks.
He thanked county staff and the project consultants, adding "a lot of extra work and expense was necessary to get to this point."
William Harrison winery is located at 1443 Silverado Trail near Zinfandel Lane. The winery building, constructed from redwood and limestone, is nestled against an oak-covered hill.
The Harrison winery's small-winery exemption states it cannot host tours or public tastings. Another section says four visitors are anticipated per week. A county presentation on Wednesday characterized those four visitors as "vendors."
The county's former small winery exemption program has been the subject of a recent, high-profile court case involving another winemaker. Napa County claimed Hoopes Vineyard south of Yountville illegally hosted visitors in violation of its exemption permit, among other alleged offenses. It sued the Hoopes winery.
Hoopes maintained that the small winery exemption allows appointment-only visitation and that the county's visitor prohibition is unconstitutional.
In a recent tentative decision, the Napa County Superior Court sided with the county, thought it has not issued a final verdict. Hoopes is also pursuing its claims in federal court, along with two other winemakers.
You can reach Barry Eberling at 707-256-2253 or [email protected]
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