Supervisor Scott Russell, speaking to a business group this morning, doubled down on his proposal to implement a moratorium on new plans for wineries, farm breweries and distilleries.
Russell was the guest speaker at a North Fork Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting at Peconic Landing in Greenport.
In response to a question about the need for a moratorium posed by Leslie Merinoff, owner and founder of Matchbook Distillery in Greenport, Russell defended his moratorium proposal, which got no support from town board members when he floated the idea last month.
“The fact of the matter is the current code isn’t good. It’s not good for the wine industry or for the town,” Russell said. “This isn’t anti-winery. Every time you mention the words winery and zoning it’s [seen as] anti-winery. But no, it’s not anti-winery…The moratorium isn’t just about restricting wineries. It’s about creating code that addresses these new models,” he said.
“And yes,” he allowed, “there are going to be some new restrictions.”
Some of the ways the town code needs to be fixed are changes to bring it up to date with current industry practice, the supervisor said.
One example is a code requirement for processing to be done on site, he said.
That’s how things were done “in the old days,” Russell said. “That’s changed. Premium Wine Group and other businesses have allowed people to produce wine on smaller properties. But at the same time, the code doesn’t say you could do that.”
As a result, many operations do not comply with the current code. Then when you have a new application come in seeking to do what existing wineries are doing, they get rejected, he said.
“And they say, ‘what about this one or that one?’ And they’re right. So what do you do?” he asked.
The code needs to be changed to address this and other issues, he said.
Russell said he does not think it’s fair to process applications while the code is being reviewed and changed.
“At what point are you going to say, ‘Look, we’re going to create new rules’? Who are they going to apply to — the guy that just came in two months ago, two years ago, two weeks from now? Or four weeks from now? We can let someone start the process right now and change the rules on him,” he said, citing the developer of the proposed Sports East facility in Mattituck as an example.
“Do you freeze the code while you go through the process? At what point are you going to make that review process meaningful? I’d rather freeze the process while we go through the code,” Russell said.
He said a six- or 12-month moratorium is not unreasonable to allow the town to “create a code that’s usable, that actually recognizes some of the [business] models that it doesn’t recognize now.”
The town currently has applications pending that can’t be processed because the town doesn’t have the authority to approve them because they don’t comply with current code, Russell said.
After today’s meeting, the supervisor said L.I. Wine Council representatives agreed to review and discuss his concerns. He said he sent them a five or six page outline two weeks ago and is waiting for a response.
L.I. Wine Council executive director Ali Tuthill could not immediately be reached for comment.
Russell said after the discussions take place, he intends to revisit the subject with the town board.
