The Cazenovia Town Planning Board last week approved the request of Owera Vineyards to construct a permanent 6,300 square-foot “Promotion and Marketing Facility” to replace its three-season events tent for special winery functions on its East Lake Road property. The approval came with numerous conditions and limitations, however, many of which, if ignored or violated, will revoke the approval.
The planning board decision brings to an end a more than year-long building application by Owera, and concludes — for now — a two-year-long dispute between Owera and its East Lake Road neighbors, who vigorously opposed the event building approval for fear the noise, lights and traffic from the functions it will allow will destroy their neighborhood’s peace and character.
“We are very pleased that the planning board voted unanimously to approve our new building at Owera Vineyards,” said Owera owner Nancy Muserlian. “As always, we will continue to work to be good neighbors.”
The new 46-by-142-foot permanent building will be larger and more functional than Owera’s current events tent — and would be built using state-of-the-art soundproofing materials in order to eliminate the noise issues and complaints the winery has been fighting against for more than a year. There will also be a 25-by-40-foot expansion of the existing adjoining patio and pergola, as well as an expansion of the winery’s existing sanitary system, a new pump house and the expansion of the existing bio-retention area to accommodate storm water runoff from the building.
The building floor plan shows the building to contain a 5,143 square-foot “wine promotion and group tasting area,” a 1,212 square-foot “wine education area,” a prep kitchen, storage area and restroom area. The total occupancy of the building is stated to be 430 people.
While Owera may have been approved for the building they wanted, they did not receive approval for certain aspects of how they can use the building, such as in hours of operation (5 p.m. weekdays and 9 p.m. weekends instead of 10 p.m. weekdays and midnight weekends as requested), number of events (six on weekdays and five on weekends, mixed between “large” and “small” events) and number of people per event (no more than 250 at any one time). The winery also is required to immediately begin planting more grape vines on its property, and must not only prove that every event they hold is directly related to promoting their farm operation, but they must also hire an accountant and prove to the town of Cazenovia that they do not make more money from events than from selling their products at the events — both stipulations related to the winery’s status as a start-up farm operation and required by state agriculture and markets rules.
Planning Board Attorney John Langey, who reviewed in detail the board’s 30-page approval during its Feb. 5 meeting, said that he had reviewed the approval and its numerous conditions with officials at the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, and they did not disagree or object to the board’s language.
These conditions were placed on Owera as a direct result of the winery’s numerous town and county citations in 2013 for not following various codes and zoning laws and for the distress they caused their East Lake Road neighbors by loud music and bright lights from the weddings held on the property in 2013.
“There’s no doubt this had a significant impact on our decision-making process,” said town planning board Chair Anastasia Urtz. “Also relevant to the decision is that [Owera] mitigated the impacts [of events] in 2014, so we have no reason to question their ability to meet reasonable limitations. We feel we have found a reasonable balance with this.”
Urtz referred to the fact that throughout 2014, Owera continued to hold events on their premises, including a few weddings, but received no complaints from neighbors about loud music, as in 2013.
Still, Owera’s neighbors, while generally pleased by the planning board’s conditions on its approval, disagree with allowing the building construction at all and remain concerned that the winery’s owners will not abide by the limitations placed upon them.
“Given that the town believes they have no other choice but to allow the building to be constructed due to the provisions made by New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, we certainly appreciate all the effort they put into their final site plan approval,” Ken Moynihan, speaking on behalf of many of the neighbors, said. “It is evident that they were focused on how to best protect the surrounding neighborhood and the quality of life for the residents. The provisions and limitations … is very much appreciated and absolutely necessary. Considering that it is the farm winery status that the town believes allows this building to even be constructed, it is critical that the developer demonstrate their intention to operate predominantly as a winery and not as an event center. One remaining concern, however, is how the town will enforce infractions that, given past history, will likely occur.”
The entire 30-page amended site plan approval for the new Owera promotion and marketing facility can be viewed by members of the public in the planning board files at the town office.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
