Napa County Appoints Agricultural Protection Advisory Committee

Last week, the Napa County Board of Supervisors appointed members to the recently-formed Agricultural Protection Advisory Committee (“APAC”). APAC is an advisory body of the Napa County Planning Commission, and it was formed in order to evaluate and make policy recommendations on Napa County’s Winery Definition Ordinance and other regulations governing winery development within Napa County. DP&F is pleased to have Jeff Dodd, a land use and water law attorney at the firm, sit on the committee as an alternate member.

APAC will meet semi-monthly beginning on April 13 and is scheduled to deliver its policy recommendations to the Napa County Planning Commission on September 2. These policy recommendations will involve the following topics:

  • Minimum parcel size for new wineries
  • Minimum percentage of grapes used in the winery to be grown on-site (i.e. an estate grape requirement)
  • Requirement that new or expanded wineries result in no net loss of vineyards
  • Requirement that a majority of winery employees be directly engaged in vineyard or production operations
  • Permissibility of variances for road and stream setbacks for new wineries
  • Requirement that wineries include the number of temporary events in their use permit approval as part of its marketing plan
  • Development standards for wineries located in the Agricultural Preserve and Agricultural Watershed zoning districts

APAC meetings are open to the public and provide for public comment on matters before the Committee. To stay up-to-date on APAC’s schedule, activities, and agenda items, click here.