Livermore City Council Considers a Wine Country Infrastructure Ballot | Culture Leave a comment

LIVERMORE — The Livermore City Council on Monday discussed two items that supporters say could assist the Livermore Valley’s burgeoning wine industry — establishment of an assessment district to raise money to market the region’s products and a proposal to extend sewer lines into southern agricultural areas.

In its early stages, the sewer line expansion into the South Livermore Valley will require an initiative for Livermore voters to approve on the November 2022 ballot. On Tuesday, the city council, with a 4-0 vote (absent Councilmember Gina Bonnano), directed the city’s staff to begin drafting language for the ballot measure “to protect water quality and agriculture in the South Livermore Valley.”

In a previous interview with The Independent, former Tri-Valley Conservancy (TVC) Executive Director Laura Mercier explained that the current wineries utilize septic systems, but to encourage wineries to grow or come into the area, that form of sewage management is not an option.

“Right now, residential development that’s out in the county can use septic systems,” she said. “New wineries wouldn’t be allowed to use septic systems, because the waste from a winery is more intense — it’s more black than residential (waste) because you’re not taking showers, you’re not doing laundry — it truly is black. It can pollute the water table, so there is concern about the quality in the water in the water tables running below our area. One way to protect it is to not allow septic systems for any additional commercial wineries.”

The state’s regulations prohibiting additional septic treatments in rural areas due to concerns about groundwater contamination prevent new wineries from coming in or existing wineries from expanding services. Stakeholders in the area have requested the extension in what they say will ensure the future economic vitality of the winery and hospitality industries.

The council’s vote further authorized $212,502 for Rincon Consultants to prepare a supplemental Environmental Impact Report for the project and to pay for project consultants.

Livermore Planning Manager Steve Stewart told the council that city employees and consultants are already examining the technical and financial aspects to extend sewer service into South Livermore Valley, such as pipeline adjustments and improvements to existing infrastructure, including the city’s water treatment plant. Stewart said city employees would return to the council in May with the proposed measure’s language.

Proponents believe the project to connect winegrowers and property owners to sewer lines will improve water quality by removing nitrates that flow from their septic systems into groundwater and resolve other water quality concerns.

“This extension would ensure that the cultivated agriculture in our valley will continue to be financially viable and would encourage future planted acreage, which is needed to fulfill a goal of the South Livermore Valley Area Plan (SLVAP) to reach 5,000 acres of cultivated agriculture,” current TVC Executive Director Laura Antrim and Board Chair David Kent wrote in a letter to the council.

“In addition, it would provide the infrastructure required to enhance commercial wine country development to include medium sized wineries, restaurants, and a wine country resort,” they wrote.

Two members of the public voiced concerns about whether the city’s sewer treatment plant and current sewer lines had the capacity to handle the potential increased sewage flow.

“I ask that that issue be specifically addressed in the (Environmental Impact Report,)” resident Jean King said.

Speaker Donna Cabanne further called for the formation of an assessment district, guaranteeing that payment for the project would come entirely from users outside the Urban Growth Boundary for the life of the project.

Livermore resident James Folta said he supported preparation of a ballot measure to help Livermore Valley wineries and related businesses succeed.

Wine Heritage District Approved

In other action, the council approved with a 4-0 vote a scaled-down version of a Livermore Valley Wine Heritage District (WHD) that no longer includes wineries in Danville, Dublin, Pleasanton and San Ramon. The district, which will collect 2% of direct-to-consumer California wine sales to promote wineries within the historic Livermore Valley American Viticultural Area (LVAVA), was reconfigured by the Livermore Wine Growers Association (LWGA) to appease vintners in other cities who did not want to be included.

William Westover Smyth, owner of the Westover Winery in Castro Valley, who had raised opposition to the WHD at the Nov. 8 Livermore council meeting, said he was pleased the Livermore wine growers had excluded wineries from other areas.

In an interview with The Independent, Smyth later said — especially considering inflation and the high taxes in Alameda County — that it wasn’t right to add an additional 2% customer charge, which will appear as a line item on their bill. This, he added, would make wineries even less accessible to the public. He further said he left LVWGA five years ago because it had become “too bloated” with overhead costs, which paired with rising member dues.

“The only reason they’re doing this is because (LVWGA) became too big and too inefficient,” Smyth said. “A lot of the wineries have said we should go back to the old way … they think that rather than go to the government and force wineries into this thing, that maybe we should have gotten rid of people and go back to the way it was.”

LVWGA president Steve Mirassou said the area’s wine industry had “existential financial challenges” and the WHD would create funding “for the kind of marketing that this region deserves,” enabling it to “effectively describe to customers what it is that we actually do here and what the quality of our wines are here.”

“I’m excited about where the future lies for the Livermore Valley growing area and for the wineries that are included in the assessment district,” Mirassou said.

City Code for Home Businesses Changed

The council also approved changes to its codes for residents running businesses from their homes. The changes will allow limited numbers of customers to visit homes for barber and beauty services, nail services, exercise and personal training, and bicycle and small appliance repair.

The new rules allow a business to receive no more than three customers at a time from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The city will continue to prohibit adult businesses, medical clinics and small engine repair in residential areas. Other prohibited businesses in the new code will include firearms dealers and gunsmiths, and personal services including massage, tattoo and body piercing and vehicle repair.