Napa Valley’s Rutherford Ranch winery growth approvals appealed

Rutherford Ranch winery's bid to have more visitors and employees will have a sequel, with water at the heart of the matter.

The Napa County Planning Commission on June 21 approved the winery's growth requests. Water Audit California has appealed the decision to the county Board of Supervisors.

Opposition to the approval focuses on Conn Creek, which Water Audit California said is home to federally protected steelhead trout. The group alleged the county has done too little to ensure Rutherford Ranch groundwater pumping doesn't sap water from the creek.

A major part of the group's argument is the public trust doctrine.

"The essential idea of the public trust doctrine is that the government holds and protects certain natural resources in trust for the public benefit," the appeal document said.

Rutherford Ranch is located on 17 acres at 1680 Silverado Trail in the Rutherford area of Napa Valley. It can produce up to 1.25 million gallons of wine annually.

The winery came to the Planning Commission with a two-part request. It wanted to clean up code violations and allow for visitor and employee growth beyond that.

Napa County had previously approved the winery to have 250 tasting room visitors weekly. The Planning Commission increased this to 1,500 visitors weekly from May through October, and 1,190 visitors weekly from November through April.

Despite this planned growth, Rutherford Ranch estimated it will use slightly less groundwater. The winery plans to do such things as convert barrel soaking to steam use, said a county report that went to the Planning Commission.

The county report mentions the possibility that rhe winery's well may be connected to a Conn Creek tributary stream or Conn Creek itself. But, it said, because there would be no net increase in groundwater use, the Rutherford Ranch changes wouldn't harm those resources.

"The county has satisfied its duty to consider impacts of trust resources and no further analysis is required," the report said.

Water Audit California in its appeal was skeptical about the claim of no net water use increase. But even if that claim proves true, there can be no vested rights in water use that harms the public trust, the appeal said.

The group wants the county to require the winery to do an environmental impact report for its proposals.

Rutherford Ranch's general manager Morgan Vaninovich said on Tuesday that the winery has been notified by the county of the appeal.

"We look forward to its resolution and confirm, as was explained at the (Planning Commission) hearing, there will be no net increase in water use resulting from our plan," he said by email.

Water Audit California previously submitted a letter to the county that came up during the June Planning Commission meeting. At that hearing, Commissioner Kara Brunzell asked about the public trust issue raised by the group.

"I think it might be valuable to explain that to the public," she told county staff.

Deputy County Counsel Laura Anderson said the project will generally be better for the environment, in that a groundwater cap will be imposed. Conditions of approval say that the winery parcel cannot use more than 14.4 acre-feet of well water annually.

Also, the approval conditions require Rutherford Ranch to remove several illegal structures from within a stream setback and restore the area.

"Again, that will be an environmental betterment that will reduce impervious surfaces and provide more recharge," Anderson said.

Rutherford Ranch consultants say the distance of the well from the nearest creek and elevation differences make hydrological interaction unlikely. Water Audit California says the project application isn't based on data, leaving the public to rely wholly on the integrity of the consultants.

Unless a resolution is reached beforehand, these are the types of issues that will go before the county Board of Supervisors during the Rutherford Ranch appeal hearing. The county has yet to announce a date.

Water Audit California also recently appealed the Planning Commission's May 3 approval for Duckhorn winery growth requests. Supervisors are scheduled to hear that case on Nov. 7.

In March, Water Audit California helped organize the Napa Water Forum with speakers from academia, environmental groups and public agencies. The forum looked at the Napa River and its ecosystems and water use.