Changes Coming to Riverside County's Wine Country Plan

Riverside County supervisors today directed staff to draft proposed modifications to the Temecula Valley Wine Country Plan to ensure that future viticultural projects are ”processed more efficiently.’’

Officials from the Transportation and Land Management Agency, as well as the Department of Planning, recommended the board action based on experiences over the last year handling applications involving Wine Country land-use permits.

“It is staff’s opinion that there is a need to make some targeted modifications ... to allow winery projects to be processed more efficiently,’’ according to TLMA statement. ”It is important to highlight that the changes to be considered would not fundamentally alter the vision of the Wine Country Plan, which creates a balance between the needs of the wineries, residential and equestrian uses.’’

County officials did not specify what provisions may need to undergo revision, but noted it was past time to ”clarify uses and definitions’’ related to Wine Country zoning.

While speaking on a separate item concerning a Wine Country enterprise, Supervisor John Benoit observed that noise abatement issues may be among the challenges with which county planners are confronted before signing off on future projects.

Former Supervisor Jeff stone, now a state senator, spearheaded the Wine Country Plan, calling it his chief goal in the 10 years he served on the board.

The board unanimously approved the Wine Country zoning ordinance in March 2014, envisioning a 25,000-acre space in the southwest county region serving as prime real estate for major growth, with dozens of new vintners
occupying the landscape, which is now home to about 40 wineries.

At the time, Stone acknowledged that “further changes’’ would be required to zoning regulations as Wine Country grew.

As part of the makeover, an unincorporated area with boundaries three miles north of the San Diego County line, just east of Temecula, south of Lake Skinner and northwest of Vail Lake, was broken into four districts: equestrian,
existing, residential and winery.

Preparing the area for expansion will require new infrastructure, more government services and accommodations for existing residents and businesses -- all of which pose challenges, though most of them can be mitigated, according to a 700-page report approved by the board last year.

By City News Service

Photo via Shutterstock