Mendocino County lawsuit takes aim at noise from wind machines used to combat frost
The giant fans towering over Anderson Valley vineyards have stood mostly still and silent for years, with farmers preferring sprinkler systems to protect their grape crops from freezing temperatures in late winter and early spring.
But as the drought has dragged on, Wine Country growers seeking to conserve precious water supplies and comply with new state regulations have increased their reliance on fans to battle frost, triggering complaints from neighbors over the noise they generate.
A lawsuit filed in Mendocino County Superior Court is escalating the fight, taking aim at the fans as an unchecked nuisance and posing a new dilemma for growers navigating an increasingly complex landscape of state and local laws and neighborhood concerns.
The lawsuit, filed by Mark Scaramella, a valley resident and managing editor of the iconoclastic Anderson Valley Advertiser newspaper, claims the fans near his home regularly violate the county’s noise ordinance, which is supposed to limit the noise that carries to his home to 40 decibels at night, when fans are typically deployed.
When his three closest farm neighbors fire up their five fans, Scaramella said, it is much louder - like having five helicopters hovering over his home, he said.
“It’s not just a noise. The sound rattles your windows. It just runs right through you. It’s awful,” he said.
His lawsuit calls on the county to apply its noise ordinance to fans, something that is not currently being done because farming practices are considered exempt. In a court hearing next month, Scaramella’s attorney, Rod Jones, plans to seek an injunction suspending and revoking permits for fans that exceed accepted noise levels. Those fans should be replaced with ones designed to be quieter, Scaramella said.
The lawsuit names as defendants Mendocino County’s elected supervisors, the agricultural commissioner and the planning director. It names Scaramella’s nearest farming neighbors - Pennyroyal Farms, Foursight Wines and V. Sattui Winery - as real parties of interest.
Growers across Mendocino County have taken notice of the suit, which they said could amount to a broad challenge to their ability to protect their crops.
“It’s really about the right to farm. Anyone in agriculture could be affected,” said Devon Jones, executive director of the Mendocino County Farm Bureau.
Farmers prefer not to use the wind machines, which are less effective at protecting against frost than spraying the crops with water, a practice that encases vines in an ice shield that offers a better buffer against sustained colder temperatures.
The fans work by mixing in warmer layers of air, increasing the overall ambient temperature. Farmers say they have increased their dependence on fans in response to the drought both because it was necessary to conserve water supplies and because it was the right thing to do.
“We were proud of the fact we could be saving millions of gallons of water,” said Deborah Cahn, an owner of Pennyroyal Farms, which grows grapes in addition to raising sheep and goats to produce cheese. She estimated the farm has saved 3 million gallons of water in the past few years by using fans instead of water for frost protection.
Across much of Mendocino and Sonoma counties, the fans also are a key frost-protection alternative for growers now governed by new state regulations devised to limit impacts on imperiled fish species in the Russian River and its tributaries.
Federal and state officials say sharp springtime drawdowns in the river for frost protection have stranded and killed endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout. Farming groups and grape growers have disputed that science, but they lost a prolonged court battle last year that sought to invalidate the state move.
As a result, the use of fans is once more on the rise after decades of decline, said Glenn McGourty, a farm adviser with the UC Davis Cooperative Extension.
At up to $34,000 each, the fans represent a significant investment for growers, who have much on the line in late winter and early spring, when early growth on vines can be damaged by frost. The fans are ubiquitous across Wine Country, especially in valley-floor vineyards where cold air can settle.
Mendocino County officials said that while they permit fans, they do not keep track of their numbers.
Sonoma County Agricultural Commisioner Tony Linegar said use of wind machines has also shot up in Sonoma County, but his office doesn’t keep track of the number installed.
Scaramella estimated that about 80 fans were standing in Anderson Valley last year when he last counted. Five are located 200 to 600 yards from his home, where he has lived since 2007, he said. He has lived in Anderson Valley since 1990, he said, adding that last year was the first time the fans were a problem.
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