Local Winery Closed Down After Operating Without Proper Permits

Southold Farm + Cellar voluntarily ceased their operations on Thursday after the Town of Southold asked them to since they did not have the proper certificates.

The local winery, located on Old North Road, is currently owned the Meador family.

“The fact remains, we are steadfast in our belief that we are and should be allowed to operate as a family farm winery,” the family wrote in a post on the Southold Farm + Cellar Facebook page. “When we set out on this venture we were well aware that the only way for us to make a living would be to live where we worked. In doing so, this would allow us to raise our young family, focus solely on our winegrowing and the education around that product.”

The winery currently has a certificate of occupancy for a single family dwelling and an open permit for a farm stand, according to Michael Verity, Southold’s Chief Building Inspector, who sent out the code enforcement.

“They do not have the certificates to do what they’re doing or approval from other agencies,” Verity said.

The enforcement went out after receiving “multiple complaints” in the past, according to Verity.

According to a post on the Facebook page, the winery shut down after the Town of Southold asked them to “cease all operations or face fines and/or jail time.”

However, Verity says that jail time was never mentioned and that while he is not certain of the exact repercussions of operating without the proper certificates, he has heard of tickets being given out and possible court appearances.

Southold Farm + Cellar is not the first local farm in the area to operate without the proper licenses, according to Verity.

The winery opened in 2014 after the family purchased the land in 2012.

“We had sought guidance with the town and have been completely upfront with what we intended to do,” the post reads. “We have been working with the town for over a year to correct an earlier error and have now found ourselves mired in grey areas, far past our simple understanding of town code.”

The Town first approached the family about a month ago. Verity said he spoke to the family on Thursday when they decided to close, and code enforcement reached out on Wednesday.

According to Verity, they asked for compliance and made a verbal request to shut down.

At the last zoning board of appeals meeting on July 2, the Meadors made a request for adjournment after they received a notice of disapproval back in April for a building permit for construction of an agricultural production building at less than the code minimum required setback of 100 feet from a major road, according to the agenda from the meeting.

“Rather than purchasing additional land and building beautiful facilities that could host large crowds and weddings, we would save ourselves the overhead, stay small, rely on word of mouth and just farm and sell our product, nothing more, nothing less,” the family wrote on the Facebook page.

The winery continues to sell wine on their website and Verity said that they can still get the proper certificates, but he does not know exactly how long the process will take.

A hearing will be held at Southold Town Hall on August 6 at 10 a.m.

Photo: Google Maps