Mt. Winery concludes public meetings, awaits a draft EIR

By Kara Chalmers

The Mountain Winery capped off the concert season two weeks ago on Sept. 30, and on Oct. 5, owner Bill Hirschman and winery officials held another in a series of public meetings in the historic chateau to let neighbors know where the winery expansion plans stand.

Since May, Hirschman and nearby residents have been meeting to discuss these plans. Now, the winery is in the middle of the long and complicated process of obtaining a land-use permit from Santa Clara County. The permit would make legal the practices and events that have gone on at the winery for years, but would not allow for any new uses. Even though there have been concerts at the winery since 1958, previous owners never obtained a land-use permit. The owners say they want to get through the permit process before they do any master planning for expansion.

According to Kristine Syskowski, project manager for the winery, many of the questions neighbors have asked pertain to the permit and the permit process. So, after Hirschman presented a brief slide show, which included pictures of past events and performers at the winery, Syskowski detailed the permit process "in a nutshell" with her own slides.

The permit application was filed by the winery with the county last March, since part of the land is in an unincorporated part of the county. The next step was for the winery to hire a consultant to create an environmental impact report summarizing the impact the permit would have--for example, how water or traffic would be affected if the number of concert attendees were to increase.

Future items, like an expansion of the concert bowl to seat 2,500 and an addition to the winery building, are listed on the permit application.

"Our goal is to certainly bring some improvements to the property," Hirschman says. "We feel that based on the uses we are currently doing--weddings, corporate events and concerts--that we can, by doing a better job, be able to maintain the winery and be able to really bring it back to its glory days without creating havoc."

He was quick to point out, though, that an approval of the permit would not signify major changes right away. In fact, the winery would have to then go through a whole new process with new applications and a new EIR.

"[The use permit] is just requesting the ability to request the opportunity again," Hirschman says and laughs. "Nothing is cast in concrete, at this point, for physical improvements."

The winery is almost at the stage in the process when a draft of the EIR will be ready for public study and comment.

The county could issue a notice of availability as soon as two weeks, and the draft will be available in the library and county planning department.

The public will have 45 days to comment, according to Syskowski. Then, it is up to the county Planning Commission to consider the permit at a public hearing. Hirschman says he is 99 percent sure the process will be over by the start of the next concert season in May.

At the Oct. 5 meeting, once the permit process was thoroughly explained, most questions from some of the 10 neighbors present focused on noise and traffic.

Although some neighbors said the noise level was lower this past year, others disagreed. Hirschman says that the recorded decibel level was relatively low this year because of restrictions placed on performers.

In terms of traffic problems, the staff is looking into hiring a parking attendant to stay and direct traffic after the concerts as well as before.

A winery curfew for performances will be set up by next season, most likely10:30 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends, and neighbors will have a chance to give their input on the curfew during the permit process.

"We're learning," says Hirschman. "And a couple of things we did this year we'll probably do differently next year. I think we've made some positive changes already, but we have a long way to go."

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