All that was missing was the bottle of bubbly. Last Tuesday night, the Albemarle Planning Commission held a work session on proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance that would affect farm wineries. We covered this a couple of months ago, when county planning staff met with folks from the local wine industry, and we reported on the tension then on the rise. None of that was evident last week. Indeed, the state wine industry lobbyist, Matt Conrad, told C-VILLE before the session got underway, “I would cautiously go so far as to say this might become a model ordinance across the state.”
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Lauded by C-VILLE as the third leading player in local food and wine in our power rankings last year, David King has stepped out of the spotlight. But he was back in town long enough last week to commend the Albemarle County Planning Commission for its rejiggered ordinance on farm wineries. |
Some background: County planners wanted to get the current zoning ordinance aligned with the State Code that regulates farm wineries. But on questions of operating hours, number of people that can attend events without a zoning variance, and even the matter of what defines a farm winery, they were alienating the wineries. The nub of their complaint? The county would put their livelihoods at risk by over-regulating them and overstepping the bounds set by the Commonwealth.
Led by Wayne Cilimberg, county planning staff amended their amendment, so to speak. In the new version, special use permits would only be required for events with attendance over 200. The list of “usual and customary” activities at a farm winery synch up with the state’s definition (this item entailed a mildly humorous distinction between balloon rides, which are usual and customary, and helicopter rides, which are not). And farm wineries will not be required to comprise contiguous acreage, meaning a winery can plant vines across the road or two parcels away without breaking the law.
Color us cynical, but we were surprised to find government so responsive. Ever the diplomat, Conrad was not: “We’ve been in constant contact with Wayne Cilimberg, and he has been professional in wanting to work with us,” says the director of the Virginia Wine Council.
Conrad was not alone in his endorsements. Sitting through an hour’s discussion of cell tower siting before the farm wineries session began were winemakers and winery owners from Blenheim Vineyards, Keswick Vineyards, Pollak Vineyards and Albemarle Ciderworks. Jeff Sanders, whose 22 acres planted in Free Union four years ago are just starting to produce, was on hand, and so was David King from King Family Vineyards.
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King has been making himself relatively scarce these days, compared to the period not long ago when he headed the state’s wine distribution company and marketing board, among other industry titles. Towards the end of last year he shucked all that.
“I thought, and still think, that concentrating all that political activity in one person is a bad thing,” he said between sessions in Lane Auditorium. “I am a firm believer in term limits.”
Another reason King hasn’t been around much is that he and his wife Ellen are spending their time in Houston. The native Texans expect to stay there for another year, while David, a former attorney, “helps some individuals with water issues.” [We will here resist the inevitable joke about turning water into wine.]
Instead, King has turned over operations to sons Carrington and Stuart. Between the gold medal that King Family’s Meritage took home from the Governor’s Cup competition earlier this month, and the good news at the County Planning Commission, he’s probably not sweating that decision.
The Planning Commission unanimously approved the amended zoning ordinance, which will go to the Board of Supervisors for a vote on March 16.
