William Cunningham Winery Opposition
News Release- Kenwood neighbors eagerly await Steve Ledson’s response to concerns over proposal to build a commercial winery and production facility on the property immediately adjacent to Frey Road.
Release Date: October 18, 2012
Contact: Marie Gaynor-Murphy, Media Consultant 415-377-5039
Kenwood, California – A vocal group of neighbors are looking forward to continuing their dialogue with prominent winery owner Steve Ledson, who has promised to address concerns raised by them at a meeting in August. At that meeting Ledson unveiled plans to build a 50,000 case winery and production facility, wine tasting rooms and an event center on his family’s property directly adjacent to their homes on Frey Road. The winery, which will be called the William Cunningham Winery, is in the initial application phase with the County of Sonoma.
On August 19, 2012, Ledson invited neighbors over to hear directly from him and architect Doug Hilberman, AXIA Architects, his plans to build a commercial winery, tasting room, production buildings and vineyards on a portion of his land between Frey and Lawndale Roads in Kenwood. Original plans indicated that this property would be rural residential, and Ledson explained his family had initially considered building luxury homes on five-acre parcels on the land. At the meeting he told neighbors that they had since decided to consolidate all of their other wine operations onto a portion of their property; something his Kenwood neighbors are vehemently opposed to.
While homeowners believe the residential option would be a better fit for their quiet peaceful community; their concerns run a little deeper than the obvious impact of having a commercial operation spring up in the middle of their bucolic neighborhood. They have serious concerns around traffic, safety, water, noise, lighting, the visual impact of the buildings, and winery wasteresulting from the projectproposed by Ledson.
One of their biggest concerns is the proposal to have access to the winery coming off of Frey Road; a single lane, dead end road that is already dangerously difficult to execute a left turn from onto Hwy. 12, and which requires residents to pull over to allow one another to pass. The notion of adding trucks and winery traffic to the mix is strongly opposed by the neighborhood group, as Frey Road is their only access in and out of their neighborhood. Of equal concern is the impact a proposed 1,000 ft. well to irrigate the vineyards and run the production facility would have on their water supply. The size of the main building, which would dwarf buildings in the surrounding area, and the disruption of trucks unloading grapes at all hours and nighttime events are among other key concerns expressed by the neighbors. Many have questioned whether the proposed commercial facility would be allowed because it is within community separator between Oakmont and Kenwood, set up to maintain a scenic corridor along that stretch of Hwy. 12.
These are all questions they are asking Ledson and the County of Sonoma to address before the William Cunningham Winery application moves forward. To date, Ledson has only responded that he is looking into the possibility of having access to his commercial operation come off of Hwy. 12. Frey Road residents still want to meet to talk about their other concerns soon.