One Southold family whose winery’s tasting room was shut down by code enforcement has vowed to fight back — and asked the public for their support.
According to Southold’s Chief Building Inspector Mike Verity, code enforcement “went out by my direction” to Southold Farm & Cellar, a winery on North Road in Southold that has been the subject of “multiple complaints.”
Verity said as per normal procedure, the town asked for voluntary compliance. The business, he said, has only a certificate of occupancy for a single family dwelling.
A winery and tasting room has been operating on the property since last year.
“We spoke to them a few weeks ago to say this is what you can do,” Verity said.
The matter was on the agenda at last week’s Southold zoning board of appeals meeting; the Meadors received a notice of disapproval 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.
There currently is not enough “lot area” for the business to be operating, according to the ZBA.
Verity said the business had opened without a CO or any other area variance from the ZBA.
The matter is still before the ZBA, with a hearing scheduled for next month.
The Meadors turned to social media today to reach out to the public. “We are closed, but not finished,” they wrote in a post on the business’ Facebook page.
The Meadors said as of today, they had been told to “cease all operations or face fines and/or jail time. We are heartbroken, to say the least.”
Prior to purchasing the property in 2012, the post stated that the Meadors “had sought guidance with the town and have been completely upfront with what we intended to do. 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. We are now in the process of requesting that the town treat us fairly and similarly to those operating in similar fashion.”
The letter continued to say that the Meadors are “steadfast” in their belief “that we are and should be allowed to operate as a family farm winery. 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. 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.”
They have seen success, the Meadors said, because they have been able to focus solely on their efforts to grow and make “the best bottle of wine within our ability and to speak to each of you about it at length. To suddenly turn our backs and walk away from doing business like this, as it has been implied by some, would spell the end of our success both in our business and, quite frankly, our own happiness. We believe that whether you’re a chicken farmer, berry farmer or a winemaker and grape grower, the ability to live on your property, raise a crop, process it and sell it directly to the consumer has never been more vital to sustaining small farming and is ever more true in this beautiful town we call home.”
On their site, the Meadors said the heart of the issue at hand revolves around “whether or not the town believes there is enough room for us to live and operate a small winery, even though there are other wineries operating on the same amount of land without causing issues to their surroundings. To this point the town only has one lens to see wineries, as opposed to restaurants where they treat something like a high end restaurant vs. fast food vs. a deli differently specific to their traffic requirements. We have always set up to be low traffic and will do everything to maintain that, not to mention be respectful neighbors.”
With the future uncertain, the Meadors said they were not anticipating losing their ability to run their business during the busy summer months.
They asked those wishing to help to continue buying and drinking their wine by purchasing it on their website, calling the ZBA, or attending the hearing on August 6 at 10 a.m. at Southold Town Hall.
The couple, along with their children Coralai and Sawyer, signed the letter with “peace and love.”
The public appeal has generated a large number of responses and offers of help from those who say they support the couple and the business as it exists.
