Saratoga Trail Enthusiasts drop appeal of lawsuit

By Rebecca Ray

After a year and a half of litigation, the Saratoga Trail Enthusiasts abandoned the appeal in their suit against the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and Mountain Winery.

The Trail Enthusiasts, a nonprofit organization that supports the city's trails, sued the county in August 2000 for issuing the winery a conditional use permit. While 75 or so of the winery's acres are within Saratoga city limits, about 600 of the winery's acres lie on county land.

Superior Court Judge Mary Jo Levinger ruled in favor of the Trail Enthusiasts in November 2001, but only on one narrow aspect of their challenge--that the county violated its own ordinance in allowing fewer parking spaces than required at the entertainment venue.

Levinger came down on the side of the county on all other counts. These included issues on noise, parcels and traffic and the county's certification of the winery's environmental impact report. The Trail Enthusiasts filed an appeal against these rulings on Jan. 14, 2002.

Kirsten Elizabeth Powell, attorney for the plaintiff, says that the Trail Enthusiasts decided that the best thing to do would be to drop the appeal and work cooperatively with the winery to resolve the issue.

The county board of supervisors decided Feb. 5, 2002, to renew the winery's permit and modify the parking requirement once the winery further developed its plans for expansion.

The Trail Enthusiasts filed an abandonment of their appeal in trial court Feb. 28.

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