Santa Clara County proposes zoning amendments aimed at helping farmers and ranchers access undeveloped and actively farmed properties in unincorporated rural areas where home-development ads have inflated land values. The proposal would update exclusive agriculture, agricultural ranchlands, hillside, and rural residential zones. The update focuses on four components: replacing local-serving provisions with objective standards, simplifying and standardizing agricultural uses, limiting uses in the exclusive agriculture zone to support long-term agricultural viability, and adopting standards for agricultural impacts. Local winery owners express concern about clarity, consistent application, small profit margins, and potential limits on tastings, events, and direct-to-consumer sales without grandfathering.
According to the county, the proposed amendments are designed to help farmers and ranchers access undeveloped and actively farmed properties in unincorporated rural areas of Santa Clara County. These properties are being advertised for home development, which in turn has inflated land values. The proposal seeks to mitigate this by updating exclusive agriculture, agricultural ranchlands, hillside and rural residential zones.
Alamitos Vineyard winery co-owner Shaun Coleman says he's looking forward to collaborating with county staff to ensure the rules are clear to small business owners and accommodating of the challenges small wineries face relating to compliance procedures. He hopes the rules will be applied consistently across operations of all sizes, from boutique wineries like his Almaden Valley vineyards to larger, historically significant ones like J. Lohr Vineyards and Guglielmo Winery, the latter of which is celebrating 100 years in business this year.
Our margins as wineries are often small, typically single-digit percentage net profits at best, says Coleman. Clear and fair regulations are essential to support our operations and preserve our ability to thrive. Given the austere future facing the entire wine industry, due to changing consumer habits and a general oversupply, he and others worry that without clear grandfathering provisions, these changes could limit tastings, events and direct-to-consumer sales, all of which are vital revenue streams for wineries.
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