Roadside advertising by Sonoma Valley businesses has some residents, officials concerned

Boutique wine tasting rooms have been proliferating along the scenic Highway 12 corridor in Sonoma Valley in recent years, and with them have come more advertising, including balloons, banners and sandwich boards aimed at grabbing the attention of the 16,000 motorists who travel that stretch of road daily.

Business owners say the outdoor advertisements are needed to entice drivers to slow down and pull into their wineries, restaurants and gift shops. But the marketing tactic is putting them at odds with nearby residents, who say the promotional activity is an eyesore that has blemished the valley’s viewshed, one dominated by vineyards and framed by two large state parks to the west and east, Annadel and Sugarloaf.

“People felt it marred the scenic beauty of this part of the valley,” said Gini Dunlap, a board member with the Valley of the Moon Alliance, which has called on area businesses to take down the signs. The group also contends they constitute a traffic hazard.

A petition started recently by the alliance urging the removal of unpermitted signs has earned more than 100 signatures so far. Members also have gone door to door, reminding businesses about county and state regulations that restrict outdoor advertisement. Some of the businesses obliged and took down their extra advertising, Dunlap said, but those signs have since been reappearing.

The conflict, in the era of eBay and Amazon, has highlighted the everyday and old-fashioned measures that some brick-and-mortar businesses say they need to take to bring in customers along a busy thoroughfare - one of Wine Country’s most popular drives. It also illuminates the struggle between residents seeking to protect their rural lifestyle and those trying to bolster commercial enterprise in the area.

“I understand the level of inconvenience, but we’re supplying the local economy,” said Anne White, manager of the nearby B Wise Vineyards in Kenwood. White said she doesn’t use banners or sandwich boards but knows many other wineries and shops in the area that do to attract customers.

While advertisements have popped up all along the narrow two-lane highway from east Santa Rosa to Agua Caliente - just north of Sonoma - the dispute has been focused on Kenwood, the unincorporated town of 1,000 residents. Some residents there claim they have seen the greatest increase in signs. One contributing factor is the high concentration of tasting rooms, which have to compete for customers, Dunlap said.

Any new outlet that opens has to come up with some way to draw attention, she said, escalating the problem.

More than two dozen wineries and tasting rooms are located in the Kenwood area, according to county records.

As the number of signs have increased, so have complaints from residents.

“More and more residents have come forward,” said Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin, who represents the area and who has been meeting with residents and business owners. The issue has sparked enough angst and discussion in the valley that Gorin plans to hold several town hall meetings to address the problem and look for solutions.

“It’s not only the tasting rooms,” Gorin said. “There are a number of businesses putting out signs. They’ve been a bit aggressive to attract drivers.”

The alliance counted more than 120 banners, sandwich boards and signs recently along the mile or so stretch of Highway 12 through Kenwood.

Winemaker Michael Muscardini, who last year opened Muscardini Cellars in Kenwood, said his employees have put sandwich boards out in front of the property for special events. He said that the signs are done professionally and employees bring them back in before leaving in the evening.

Like other valley residents, he said he wants to preserve the beauty in the area, which he, too, calls home.

“We all want the same thing. We all love our valley. We want it to remain beautiful,” said Muscardini, who previously ran a shop up the road with the owner of Ty Caton Vineyards.

Despite the uproar, Muscardini said no residents have come to him directly to complain.

“There are a lot of business owners here. They’re employing people,” he said. “We need people to stop by.”

Part of the problem is the speed limit posted on Highway 12, said White, the B Wise Vineyards manager. Although motorists must drop their speed from 55 to 45 mph when driving through Kenwood, many don’t. Even the 45 mph limit is “too fast,” White said.

Still, most of the signs at issue are illegal, said Dean Parsons, a project review manager for Sonoma County. It’s likely they would not be allowed even if business owners sought permission because the county code doesn’t have “much flexibility” when it comes to approving temporary signs, balloons and banners, which Parsons said could create a traffic safety problem.

Tennis Wick, director of the county’s Permit and Resource Management Department, said the county identified at least 10 violations in Kenwood, the most recent ones at a cafe and a winery.

“We’ve done what we can from a regulatory standpoint to allow merchants to (advertise),” he said, adding that businesses have been permitted to build permanent signs perpendicular to their storefronts to improve visibility. But banners and sandwich boards are unsafe and take away from the “charming village” feel of the area, Wick added.

Caltrans also came out last month to ask businesses in the area to move their sandwich boards and other signs away from the road, according to Muscardini.

Caltrans spokesman Allyn Amsk acknowledged in an email that the agency had received more complaints about signs than usual.

“Our focus is on the safety of motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians who travel on State Route 12, including visitors to the area who shop at local businesses,” Amsk said.

It can be difficult to see around the signs and all the cars parked near tasting rooms when trying to enter the highway, said Cathy Fletcher, a longtime Kenwood resident.

“There’s so much congestion you have to be careful pulling onto the highway,” she said.

Fletcher said she doesn’t want to harm businesses in the area and understands that they want to attract tourists and other customers. However, she wants them to stick to what is allowed in their permit.

“We’re becoming a hot spot for wine tasting. … Everybody is competing,” she said. “If they just go by their permit, that would make us happy.”

The flap over signage is worrying other business owners, including Michael Scheffer, who co-owns Swede’s Feeds, a pet, garden and gift store in the heart of Kenwood.

Scheffer had to pull his sandwich boards from the roadside about a year ago. He’s now concerned that state and local officials will ask him to remove the whimsical scrap-metal sculptures - of flamingos, turtles, goats and roosters - that line the front of his store.

“I’m a little nervous that someone will tell us that,” he said.

Scheffer has owned the store for 17 years. He said the colorful art pieces draw in curious passers-by each day. Without them he worries he won’t be able to compete with the nurseries down the road and the big-box stores that now carry animal feed.

“It carried us through the recession,” Scheffer said, restocking shelves on a recent morning.

“We would be out of business. If we’re out of business, this would become a tasting room. And residents don’t want that.”

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez?@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @eloisanews.