Most likely you haven't heard that the Fauquier County Council has released a proposed a new Farm Winery Ordinance. They had a public hearing on this legislation June 7th, but have not voted to take action yet.
Which means there is still time to dissuade the council from making a huge mistake.
The State of Virginia has regulations that define what constitutes a farm winery and the type of activities that these wineries can engage in. The Fauquier County Council has decided these regulations are not restrictive enough and seeks to impose additional regulations, which may not be legal, on the 26 Farm Wineries in Fauquier County.
Take a moment to look over the proposed bill. If this bill were copied by other counties it would make the Palladio restaurant at Barboursville Winery illegal, it would also make the new 868 Winery illegal. It will most definitely make the new John Marshall Tasting Experience at Barrel Oak illegal.
The bill takes an unnecessarily restrictive view of what a farm winery is and what type of activities in which they can engage.
The good news is, the bill has not been voted on yet. If you are one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have visited the farm wineries in Fauquier County I encourage you to (respectfully) write the Board of Supervisors and tell them they are wrong on this, the farm wineries in Faquier County don't need any additional restrictions placed on them.
1 comment:
This is the Piedmont Environmental Council telling Fauquier County what to do. In fact, PEC has been sending out email blasts asking for an even tighter choke hold on the wineries. One of the BOS is Peter Shwartz and he was with the PEC. Rumor has it that he does whatever his "people" order him to do. In fact, PEC even had representatives at a hearing to put a choke hold on the farmers in the county -- that's right. Now they don't want you to be able to sell eggs, hay or a tomato over your fence to your neighbor without a permit! It is time to clean house and stop this insanity here. Isn't it enough the Virginia Supreme Court had to spank Fauquier County over the Marterella decision. This county is out of control.
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