The Los Angeles County supervisors reached a compromise Tuesday with vintners and grape growers who spoke out against the extension of a temporary ban on new and expanded vineyards in the north area of the Santa Monica Mountains.
The initial temporary ban, imposed last month and set to expire July 31, was spurred by an unprecedented flurry of applications to establish vineyards in the region. In the past year, the county’s Regional Planning Department received 51 applications for vineyards covering nearly 500 acres of land. Nineteen applications were approved and 25 are pending, according to the planning department. In the previous year, only three applications were received.
The supervisors had planned to impose a 10-month extension of a temporary ban on new vineyards in the 21,000 acres of the Santa Monica Mountains so that planning department staff could conduct a study of the effects of the vineyards and examine water supply, water quality, erosion and the transformation of the character of the mountainous area.
Instead, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl proposed the compromise that would allow the pending applications to move forward as long as a number of conditions were met in regards to water, erosion and pest management and that the temporary ban would only be extended for four months.
“That simply will give our planning department the ability to write an ordinance relating to these issues for those that have not yet applied,” Kuehl said. Kuehl’s proposal was approved unanimously.
John Gooden, president of the Malibu Coast Vintners and Grape Growers Alliance, said he was surprised but pleased with the compromise Kuehl proposed.
“It’s certainly a step in the right direction,” Gooden said. “The hard work is ahead of us. We will need to continue to work with the county to allow private property owners the right to use their agricultural land the way they want.”
Dozens of landowners attended Tuesday’s public hearing and asked that the ban be lifted. They argued grape vines are drought-tolerant and said many farmers only use drip-irrigation to water the vines.
Ruth Gomez said she uses drip irrigation to water her small vineyard and only waters three months out of the year when the grapes are on the vines.
“When we talk about water, there have been some conversations and testimony about how little water is used. … It was the aggregate amount that I was concerned about,” Kuehl said.
Many vintners said they felt they were being unfairly discriminated against and that their crop was being singled out.
Kuehl said she focused on vineyards because of the spike in applications received.
Some residents of the area and environmentalists supported the ban due to concerns about the vineyards interrupting wildlife habitat.
The county supervisors last year imposed a permanent ban on new vineyards in the coastal areas of the Santa Monica Mountains. Vineyards have existed in the Santa Monica Mountains for nearly 200 years, activists said.
Malibu wine grape grower James Palmer said Los Angeles was built on vineyards. In 1840, he said there were more than 100 wineries in Los Angeles.
“Los Angeles was the world center of wine production for 60 years,” Palmer said. Then the ideal grape growing areas shifted north.
Today in downtown Los Angeles, San Antonio is the sole winery, he said. There are several wineries in other areas like Malibu, the Antelope Valley and Pomona.
Many of the Santa Monica Mountain vintners who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting said the region has many smaller family-owned vineyards, not commercial operations.
“These are not large commercial vineyards that are proliferating and spreading out through the Santa Monica Mountains,” said Elliot Dollin.
Of the pending applications, the largest proposal is 40 acres and the smallest is less than 1 acre.
In agricultural zones, vineyards are allowed by right, although landowners need a ministerial approval, said Anita Gutierrez, a county planner. Those who live in residential areas can also construct small vineyards with permits, she said.
The study and any potential ordinance amendment will be brought back to the supervisors in about four months.
