A new 20,000 sq. ft. winery building at Sperring Road and Arnold Drive, which would have also housed a brewery and distillery, has been turned down by Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission.
Ceja Farms Operations LLC proposed what would have been the only tasting room between Glen Ellen and the Robledo Family Winery off Highway 116.
The company requested a General Plan Amendement to allow rezoning within a 47-home residential area at 1225 Sperring Road. The proposed facility would produce annually 30,000 cases of wine, 5,000 barrels of beer, 5,000 bottles of liquor, a cheese production unit and a small bakery.
The commission felt that while the multi-use processing facility was overall a good project, it was sited in the wrong location. The August 23 vote was unanimous.
Neighbors criticized the project as out of scale with the area, and one that would set a bad precedent for a neighborhood that has 60 residential lots, most of them on domestic wells.
There were concerns about traffic, noise from ten proposed Special Events each year as well as dust, noise and light from the proposed facility.
Valley of the Moon Alliance, a citizen watchdog group opposing the project, also took issue with the lack of public notice to the neighbors when the project application was first filed in 2011.
The commission vote will be taken under advisement by the Board of Supervisors if the applicant proceeds to the County Planning Commission.
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