Rutherford Ranch winery secures compliance requests

Rutherford Ranch winery came to Napa County with a two-part request — remedy various code violations, and allow for visitor and employee growth beyond that.

The county Planning Commission on Wednesday legalized many of the violations and approved a different version of the proposed growth. Commissioners took about two hours to sort everything out.

"The fact that you're here and you want to be in compliance — I am supportive," commission chair Dave Whitmer told the Rutherford Ranch winery owners.

Rutherford Ranch is on 17 acres at 1680 Silverado Trail. It was approved to have up to 250 visitors weekly. One part of a county report says the winery averaged 540 visitors a week in 2014, the last time detailed records were kept. Another part says 821 visitors a week is to be recognized as existing conditions under the code compliance program.

The winery was approved to have 28 full-time employees, but has 43 a county report said.

Commissioners without debate agreed to legalize those and other winery use permit violations.

Growth requests beyond the use permit violation corrections proved a harder sell. Rutherford Ranch asked to have up to 1,500 tasting guests a week and 58 full-time employees.

Commissioner Megan Dameron explained her opposition. The winery should first be successful staying in compliance before receiving a big increase, she said.

The commission prepared to take a vote based on her motion. Then Rick Tooker, a consultant to the winery presented an option — 1,500 guests a week from May through October and 1,190 guests a week from November through April.

After some discussion, the commission unanimously agreed to those increases with the seasonal variations. "This is a technique we've used in the past," Whitmer said.

Tooker pointed to 2014 winery records that show an average of 185 guests daily. That average would remain the same on an annual basis under this proposal with the seasonal variations, he said.

The commission ultimately agreed to the employee increase too, given more guests would make that necessary.

Rutherford Ranch is to create a travel demand management plan to reduce overall trips generated by the winery. Commissioner Andrew Mazotti had questions.

For example, the winery is to bunch employee lunch runs to avoid single trips. He asked how that could be enforced.

"It seems like it's positive and it's great and these are great ideas," Mazotti said. "But people are probably just going to get lunch when they need to or want to."

The winery will have to submit data to the county annually. It will have to show how trips are being reduced, planner Emily Hedge said.

"And how do we know that report is accurate?" asked Mazotti.

Tooker later took up the issue. The reports are often prepared by technical traffic engineers and reviewed by the county's traffic engineer, he said.

"These are reviewed by people whose job it is to know how to analyze that information," Tooker said. "So we're hopeful it's good information going in and good responses coming back."

Another issue was the presence of a pump house, water tanks, a greenhouse, part of a concrete pad, a tool shed and various other unpermitted structures within a 45-foot stream setback. Their presence violates county conservation laws.

The winery must remove most of the structures and restore the stream by planting oaks, coyote bush and other vegetation. The pump house will remain and two water tanks are to be relocated so they are only partially within the setback.

Some structures within the stream setback, such as the winery building and a house, predate the 1991 county conservation rules and are not violations.

Groundwater became another issue. The winery's well may be connected to the stream that feeds Conn Creek or Conn Creek itself, a county report said.

County staff concluded that the project won't increase groundwater use, giving offsetting water use reduction steps, so there is no adverse impact to Conn Creek resulting from the proposed changes.

Water Audit California submitted a letter saying the assertion that water use won't increase should be viewed skeptically. In any event, harm to the public trust of waterways cannot be a vested right, it said.

Rutherford Ranch winery has its roots with the Van Asperen family and Charlie Abela, who founded Round Hill-Rutherford Ranch in the late 1970s. The winery was constructed in the late 1980s.

The Van Asperens sold their interest in the winery to two stockholders, Marko and Theo Zaninovich, in 2000. Marko and Theo Zaninovich are listed as applicants for the application considered by the Planning Commission on Wednesday.