The fate of Southold Farm + Cellar on Old North Road now rests squarely with the Zoning Board of Appeals. The board yesterday afternoon concluded its hearing — opened in August — on the vineyard owner’s variance application that would allow the construction of a 3,600-square-foot winery and the use of a 400-square-foot out-building as a tasting room on the 23.5-acre site already improved with a single-family house.
According to the town building inspector, that’s too many uses because the development rights have been stripped off all but one acre of the farmland. The building inspector cites the zoning code’s bulk schedule which requires a minimum of two acres of developable land per use. The proposed winery would be set back 60 feet from the front property line, which the building inspector ruled insufficient; a 100-foot setback from “a major road” is required, the notice of disapproval issued to the vineyard says.
The applicant’s attorney argued that the town should consider the entire parcel as a part of the “farm operation” and the bulk schedule should not be applied. Patricia Moore cited several cases as precedent for not applying the bulk schedule to farm operations.
“It has never been applied this way,” Moore said, “and it is outrageous that on the smallest of all the farmers in town, the smallest of all the wineries, that you’re imposing a restriction intended specifically to try to impede this business.”
Further, Moore said, the town is applying restrictions to wineries that it does not apply to other types of farmers. “You have an equal protection issue here,” she said, referring to the provision in the U.S. Constitution that guarantees all citizens equal protection under the laws.
The town is concerned about wineries that seek large crowds and operate as entertainment venues, Moore said. That’s not what Southold Farm + Cellar is about, nor will it ever be, she said.
The town shut down Southold Wine + Cellar’s tasting room in July, citing the vineyard for opening it without a certificate of occupancy.
Vineyard owner Regan Meador lives on the farm with his wife and two young children. They’ve already banned buses and limos and they limit the size of groups to parties of six.
Meador, who works the vineyard with his father-in-law, said he never plans to have it any other way. He offered to record restrictions on the property that would ensure it, including limiting the capacity of the tasting room to the number of people who can arrive in the eight cars that can be parked on site.
“Wineries are starting to realize that the old model, pulling in lots of people, doesn’t work. Your overhead and everything you have to do to manage all that is untenable,” Meador said. “We keep our overhead low so we can be a farming family.”
But Old North Road neighbor Allison Latham is worried about what might happen in the future, especially if the farm changes hands.
“I by no means want them to be out of business,” she said. “I believe they picked the wrong location for it. They purchased a one-acre site with a house on it and now want to build a 40 by 90 wine processing facility on it.” She likened a winemaking facility on a vineyard with a potato chip factory on a potato farm.
The variances sought, she said, are substantial and, if granted, would negatively impact the neighborhood. The applicant’s hardship “is entirely self-created.”
Latham also questioned who would enforce any covenants and restrictions on the site. Enforcement requires legal action by town, she said.
“We’re not questioning his abilities to make wine or his character,” Latham said. “But variances run with the land. We are concerned about what happens in the future.”
Southold Farm + Cellar wines have enjoyed success. A Manhattan wine distributor and a Manhattan wine shop owner attended the hearing to testify about the quality of its wines.
Meador has been using other winery processing facilities since he first began producing wine. He bought the property in 2012 and is anxious to have his own facility to make his wine.
“It’s like having two chefs sharing a kitchen,” Meador said. “Next harvest I really don’t know what I’m going to do. I want to get out of other people’s way and be on my own property. I want to be self-sufficient on my own property. I don’t have any other options.”
