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Work shut down at controversial Sebastopol vineyard project

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http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20130628/articles/130629467

By JEREMY HAY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Friday, June 28, 2013 at 6:16 p.m.Last Modified: Friday, June 28, 2013 at 6:16 p.m.
Winemaker Paul Hobbs has been ordered to stop work on his controversial orchard-to-vineyard conversion near Sebastopol after inspectors found that hundreds of yards of blackberry bushes and bay laurel had been cleared illegally from a protected zone above a creek.


“It's a very serious violation of their permit,” said Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner Tony Linegar, whose office issued the stop work order to the Paul Hobbs Winery.

Rules prohibiting the removal of riparian growth from within 50 feet of a waterway are a “cornerstone of our erosion control plan,” he said.

Hobbs has had several high-profile run-ins in recent years with county officials and neighbors over his land-clearing practices. On Friday said he had been in Asia when the clearing took place.

“I've got to say, I'm baffled and I'm very sad to see this situation. I feel bad for putting the county through this,” he said. “I'm taking full responsibility for this and I'm going to make the changes I need to make to fix it.”

The order, issued on Tuesday, also cited a failure to install proper erosion control measures, which allowed sediment to flow into the creek during recent rains.

“Hobbs let everyone down here,” Linegar said.

The Watertrough Road project has been fiercely opposed by people who say it will disturb pesticides once used at the orchard and cause them to drift to nearby schools, endangering children in particular.

On Friday, some of those parents said that their doubts had grown now about whether Hobbs could comply with measures he has promised to undertake to minimize the impact on the schools.

“If they're doing this, how about all those other steps? They're far more complicated,” said Christine Dzilvelis, whose daughter attends Orchard View School. “Mitigating the dust when they remove the trees is far more complicated than complying with regulations in a riparian zone.”

Told of those concerns, Hobbs said: “That's why I'm going to have a change of leadership. I'm going to have someone new take over. I'm confident we can do it.

"I'm painfully aware of the scrutiny and this is the last thing I wanted or needed. I really thought we had it buttoned down. We didn't.”

Agricultural Commissioner inspectors and Regional Water Quality Control Board staff discovered the violations after responding to a complaint.

“This sort of activity is not condoned by our winegrape growing community. We're all really disappointed,” said Linegar, who had previously strongly defended Hobbs' project against its critics.

Hobbs, whom Forbes magazine dubbed “the Steve Jobs of wine,” has been caught up in a repeated conflicts locally over environmental practices.

The latest came just weeks after he started the conversion of the 48-acre former orchard next to Apple Blossom School.

“It's utterly shocking, to say the least,” said 5th District Supervisor Efren Carrillo, who has harshly criticized Hobbs in previous cases.

Those included one 2011 instance in which he was also ordered to stop work after clear-cutting trees from a former Christmas tree farm near Sebastopol. That year, Hobbs also cleared trees on a 10-acre site east of Guerneville without needed permits.

Asked whether he should have learned from those missteps, Hobbs said: “That's what the whole community will be asking.

“The fact is, some of these things, it sounds like an old broken record: 'I must be stupid; I must not care about anything; I'm just the bad apple that Efren Carrillo said I was,'” he said.

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Work on Hobbs vineyard conversion halted by county

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http://www.sonomawest.com/sonoma_west_times_and_news/news/work-on-hobbs-vineyard-conversion-halted-by-county/article_6741ad70-e047-11e2-b0bd-001a4bcf887a.html


Posted: Friday, June 28, 2013 4:06 pm | Updated: 4:49 pm, Sat Jun 29, 2013.by David Abbott Sonoma West Times & News Editor |1 comment

The Sonoma County Ag commissioner’s office has ordered work stopped at the site of the Paul Hobbs vineyard conversion on Watertrough Road after a complaint of water runoff in the wake of storms earlier this week.

County and Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) officials investigating the complaint found that sediment had been washed into the creek on the property and further that Hobbs had cleared riparian vegetation along the creek.

“We discovered that there were not adequate measures taken to address runoff,” Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner Tony Linegar said. “Bottom line is, the project manager should be prepared for any rain event.”


The vegetation removal that was discovered also violated the terms of the project’s permit that requires a 50-foot setback from the creek, according to Linegar.


“There was a significant amount of vegetation removal,” he said. “This was a serious breach of our agreement.”


Linegar added that the matter is “unfolding,” and is being investigated by several government agencies, including RWQCB, California Fish and Wildlife and possibly even the National Marine Fisheries Service.


“Certainly there will be action,” Linegar said. “The grape-growing community at large condemns this sort of activity. He is not representative of the grape growers at large.”


The conversion began earlier this month on the 40-acre property surrounding the Twin Hills Union School District campus that includes Apple Blossom School, Tree House Hollow Pre-school, Orchard View School and SunRidge Charter School.


There has been an uproar over the conversion by parents in the district and activists in the Sebastopol area over pesticides found in the soil and fears of the use of pesticides in the vineyard.


The local vintner has had some high-profile dustups over vineyard conversions in other parts of the West County.


His long-running issues with former neighbor John Jenkel led to the conversion of Jenkel’s Graton property into vineyards and in October 2011, Hobbs cleared Davis Christmas Tree Farm in Graton, leading to a public castigation from 5th District Supervisor Efren Carrillo.


Hobbs’ Marketing and Public Relations Manager Tara Sharp was unavailable for comment.



 
 

Twin Hills parents not done fighting conversion

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Posted: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 3:13 pm

by David Abbott Sonoma West Editor [email protected] 

Public forum scheduled for May 29

Parents from the Twin Hills Union School District have mobilized in an attempt to halt a proposed vineyard conversion in order to have more tests done on the soil and to get increased mitigation efforts in the soon-to-be vineyard surrounding the school district.


“We’re hopeful,” Joy Hamel, of the Watertrough Children’s Alliance (WCA), said. “Last week, we had an initial meeting with (Paul) Hobbs’ PR folks to get the conversation moving.”


The WCA is “a group of parents, children, educators and community members” associated with five area schools, including SunRidge, Apple Blossom, Orchard View, Nonesuch, and Tree House Hollow Preschool.


On May 29, there will be a public forum to discuss what is happening on the property and what can be done to decrease the amount of spraying likely to take place near the schools.


Opposition to the proposed conversion has been brewing since late last month when the abandoned buildings on the property, purchased by Paul Hobbs Winery in late 2012, were demolished.


Hobbs plans to convert 30 acres of the 40-acre parcel to winegrapes, leaving 10 acres as they are.


News of the conversion prompted an online petition to try to stop the project and the creation of the WCA. The petition reportedly had more than 700 signatures as of Tuesday.


According to a press release from the WCA, the group is committed to “organizing to engage the current policies and standard practices that need changing,” although they are fully aware that the conversion will in all likelihood take place.


“We want to work on engaging in a conversation about current practices and keeping spraying to a minimum,” Hamel said. “First, we want to put a halt to the conversion to do further soil testing. Then, we want (Hobbs) to move forward with practices that are good for people and good for the community.”


But in order to do that, the group will have to depend on the participation of Hobbs, as the Sonoma County Agricultural Commission has basically green-lighted the project.


“We’ve had discussions with the WCA to provide them with information and explain the process,” Ag Commissioner Tony Linegar said. “There’s not a lot they can do. (The conversion) fits in the ministerial standard. Our job is to decide if it fits in the criteria.”


Linegar expects the permit to be issued within the next two weeks.


The WCA had an independent test done on soil samples from the site that found traces of DDT, which has increased concern over apple tree removal that is expected to raise a lot of dust in the immediate area.


But the Ag Commissioner believes the conversion will reduce exposure for students at the schools, as conventional apple orchards use more chemicals that are sprayed higher in the air than vineyards. He added it is likely any orchard that has been around since the 1940s or ’50s will have traces of DDT, as the powerful pesticide was used until it was banned in 1972.


“We don’t want an abandoned orchard. They become breeding grounds for pests and disease. It’s the last thing you want,” Linegar said. “I’d rather see it ripped out. … I’m glad it is staying agricultural land and not turning into a subdivision.”


It is not clear whether Hobbs will attend the public forum or not.


“We invited them to the forum and we’re hopeful they’ll come. We hope to have a peaceful and harmonious communication, however it is a public forum,” Hamel said. “We’re hoping to find a way to move forward in a healthy way. ... We’re under no illusions. He’s a wine guy and we do live in an agricultural community.”


Hobbs has already offered to work with the school district to create “educational opportunities” and to move some of the apple trees to the campus, as well as creating a buffer zone between the school and the vineyard.


Additionally, he is proposing more than $100,000 in expenditures to rehabilitate the soil in preparation for growing high-end grapes.


“Paul Hobbs Winery is continuing to work with neighboring schools and the newly formed Watertrough Children’s Alliance.” Hobbs’ Marketing and Public Relations Manager Tara Sharp said. “The conversations have been constructive and useful for both sides to understand our respective perspectives and goals. We are completely aligned with regard to keeping our children safe and healthy.”


But parents are skeptical of Hobbs’ intentions, as the local vintner has had some high-profile dustups over vineyard conversions in other parts of the West County.


His issues with former neighbor John Jenkel led to the conversion of Jenkel’s Graton property into vineyards and in October 2011, Hobbs cleared Davis Christmas Tree Farm in Graton.


But apple orchards have caused their share of problems as well.


In May 1998, an apple orchard in the area was fined for the “drift” of pesticides that found their way to Apple Blossom School after officials found diazinon residue on the outside of the building.


The public forum on the “health risks of toxic chemical farming” will take place on Wednesday, May 29, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Sebastopol Grange, 6000 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol.


According to a press release for the event, speakers “will address concerns and issues related to health risks of toxic chemical farming and the progress of the WCA’s mission.”


For information on the WCA, go to watertroughchildrensalliance.weebly.com or e-mail[email protected].

 
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