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.

His lawsuit, filed this month, was triggered by what he said was a surge in fan use last spring. His brother, dying of cancer at the time, was brought to tears because the noise prevented him from sleeping, Scaramella said.

County officials say the farmers are allowed to use the fans under state “right to farm” regulations aimed at protecting agricultural operations from nuisance lawsuits filed by people who move into rural areas, then complain about those operations.

Scaramella contends the farm-protection laws don’t apply to fans not previously used or those purchased or rented in the past three years - his understanding of the window he has to oppose new farming activity under state laws.

“They didn’t pre-exist me,” Scaramella said.

Farmers defend their use of the fans but also say they are sensitive to the noise complaints and are taking measures to address the concerns.

The Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association posted an apology for the noise on its website and has created frost protection guidelines aimed at minimizing use of the machines. They include limits on how cold it must be before fans are turned on - 35 degrees - and when they should be shut off. The association also runs an email notification system to let residents know when there’s an impending freeze that could trigger the fans, which typically run from the middle of the night until morning.

Cahn, the Pennyroyal Farms owner, said she hasn’t turned on her fans so far this year - there have been few if any frost threats - and used them only 13 times in the past three years.

Fan use peaked last year when water supplies were critically low, said Jones, the Farm Bureau executive. This year, due to a strong pair of storms in December and February, most farmers’ irrigation ponds are full, allowing them to use sprinklers for protection and reducing the need for fans, she said.

Some farmers who rented fans in 2014 have not done so this year because they have enough water, said Michael Fay, who is on the board of the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association.

But the noise issue is still rippling throughout Anderson Valley, where more than two dozen people attended a community meeting last spring to complain about the disturbance, Fay said.

Fan use could continue to rise with increased restrictions on water use and persistent drought conditions that some say may be the new normal.

“For everybody who thinks climate change isn’t happening, all you have to do is look out the window,” said McGourty, the farm adviser.

Farmers generally are coming to the conclusion that anything they can do to conserve water is smart, he said.

That includes research at UC Davis, where scientists are looking for alternatives to both water and fans for frost protection, McGourty said. They include spraying copper onto vines to prevent the growth of frost-catalyzing bacteria, like the ones used to make artificial snow. Absent those bacteria, plants can be exposed to colder temperatures - down to 26 degrees - without freezing, McGourty said.

But that’s a future remedy, and Scaramella wants relief now.

His case is set for an April 10 hearing in Mendocino County Superior Court. The county is seeking to have the case dismissed.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that Pennyroyal Farms, Foursight Wines and V. Sattui Winery are real parties of interest in a lawsuit, not defendants.