Winery proposed by Ken and Diane Wilson on Dry Creek Road up for approval

Ken and Diane Wilson, the well-known winemaking duo, are seeking to expand their slate of established wineries in Sonoma County by building a new 25,000-case winery on Dry Creek Road northwest of Healdsburg.

The Wilsons, owners of eight wineries in northern Sonoma County, including their flagship Wilson Winery, are seeking county approval to construct a new 17,000-square-foot wine production facility and tasting room, where they want to hold up to 12 special gatherings per year and participate in up to eight wine industry events, such as springtime barrel tasting.

The Wilsons’ plans, a decade in the making, are slated for a final vote by county zoning officials Thursday. County planning staff have recommended approval, with a smaller total number of events.

The proposal, though opposed by some Dry Creek Valley residents, has prompted far less public backlash than other recent, high-profile winery projects in the county. Celebrity chef Guy Fieri dropped his plans for a disputed Santa Rosa-area winery earlier this year after it was unanimously rejected by the county zoning board.

Ken Wilson agreed to changes that tempered some of the initial concerns about his project. He has scrapped plans to host up to two 100-person weddings per year.

But Wilson said he would challenge other limits floated by county planning staff, including a smaller cap on the number of industry events the winery could host.

Echoing other local vintners, Wilson said the use of such events, including countywide offerings that can bring thousands of weekend visitors to the region, are essential to boosting consumer sales and staying competitive in the wine business.

“You do have to have a more intimate relationship with your customers. You want them to be happy and keep coming back,” Wilson said. “It’s part of the business model, not only for my wineries, but throughout the industry.”

Still, the project, which was shelved during the recession after first earning county approval in 2007, has re-emerged at a time of intense scrutiny on winery development in Sonoma County. Rural residents concerned about noise, traffic and other impacts have pushed county officials to draw up tighter limits on wineries that double as event centers, hosting private gatherings that range from weddings to large industry events.

In one case, on West Dry Creek Road, not far from where the Wilsons want to build their new Hale Winery, neighborhood complaints led the county to take an unprecedented action and ban all special events at Bella Vineyards. The winery’s owners are appealing that decision to the Board of Supervisors.

Some Dry Creek Valley residents say another winery in their area is one too many. Dry Creek homeowners, echoing property owners in other grape-growing regions throughout the county, say that plans for new and expanded wineries, and especially those that seek to hold events, pose traffic risks for drivers and cyclists and noise problems that detract from their bucolic surroundings.

Hale Winery, specializing in zinfandel, cabernet and pinot noir, would be located four miles north of Wilson Winery on Dry Creek Road near Unti Vineyards.

“That part of Dry Creek Road is already over-concentrated with events and traffic because there are a large number of wineries,” said Fred Corson, chairman of the Dry Creek Valley Citizens Advisory Council and a resident of West Dry Creek Road. The citizens council recommended the Board of Zoning Adjustments reject the Wilsons’ proposal, though Corson said the move to scale back the application by dropping weddings reduced some of the opposition.

Countywide, residents’ concerns have prompted the zoning board in recent months to impose tighter limits for new wineries and existing sites seeking to expand. Though planning officials say they are without a comprehensive policy for winery events, they have routinely prohibited outside music and weddings and approved fewer events than applicants have sought. For example, the zoning board recently approved plans for expansion at Hop Kiln Winery, on Westside Road, granting permission for only four special events instead 16.

“Weddings don’t really promote agriculture,” said Willie Lamberson, the planning commissioner who represents the north county, where most winery developments are being proposed. “It’s also about how these projects impact the neighborhood.”

Wilson said he thinks tighter limits on events are too far-reaching.

“I think it puts me at an unfair advantage, with other wineries in the neighborhood being allowed to participate,” Wilson said. He voiced support for fewer limits on industry events. “A large number of people come on those days and they buy more wine than on a typical day. This can hurt my bottom line.”

The Wilsons’ wineries are set in the prime grape-growing regions of Dry Creek, Russian River and Alexander valleys. Ken Wilson has in the past run afoul of state and local regulators, including a fine for environmental damage in 1998 for his mismanagement of a hillside vineyard in Dry Creek Valley that caused tons of sediment to pollute waterways in northwest Sonoma County. His inadequate erosion-control measures at the time led, in part, to the development of the county’s regulations on vineyard planting and erosion control.

In addition to Wilson Winery, the Wilsons own Soda Rock Winery, Jaxon Keys Winery and Distillery, Pezzi King Vineyards, Matrix Winery, St. Anne’s Crossing Winery, Mazzocco Winery and deLorimier Winery.

In an interview, Ken Wilson said that he has regularly hosted events at his wineries that are not specifically authorized under county permits. Those same permits, granted years ago, don’t forbid such events, he said.

“I think we’re eventually going to have to address the problem,” Wilson said. “But at the time we got our permit, the question about events was not even asked. It was assumed everyone would want events.”

County staff members have recommended more than 100 requirements for the new winery should it be approved. They include no outdoor music, quarterly monitoring and reporting of groundwater use, road upgrades and restoration of a seasonal stream on the 40-acre property.

“To some degree, this is frustrating,” Wilson said. “I was approved once before, and at the time, nobody objected to it. But we’re really trying to accommodate the neighbors’ concerns.”

The 1 p.m. zoning board meeting will be held at the Permit and Resource Management Department, 2550 Ventura Ave., Santa Rosa.

You can reach Staff Writer Angela Hart at 526-8503 or angela.hart@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ahartreports.