County Planning Commission approves large new winery north of Lodi

To the supporters of large-scale winery just north of Lodi, the project would not just help put Lodi on the map for winemaking, but it would also bring in more jobs to hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and restaurants, and add to the wine-tourism boom.

To the opponents of the winery, who are mostly a few of the residents living on or near Jahant Road, where the project is proposed, it is nothing more than a smelly, polluting factory.

In the end of Thursday's San Joaquin County Planning Commission meeting, the commissioners sided with the winery, voting 5-0 to approve a plan for the Lange Twins Wine Company, Inc., winery, which will process 40,000 tons of grapes annually once it is completed 20 years from now.

Commission Chairman Pat Stockar said he expects an appeal because there was so much testimony against the decision. If the decision is appealed, it will go before the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors.

"We have a family tradition," said Randall Lange, who, along with his brother Brad runs Lange Twins. "This will contribute not only to the economy, but to the tourism industry."

At the meeting, Lange was supported by a cast of local wine industry leaders who also spoke about the benefits of the proposed facility.

"Wine tourism will be one of our main industries," Lodi Chamber of Commerce President Pat Patrick said. Patrick added that jobs will be created not only at the winery itself, but at all sorts of downtown businesses as well.

"The Chamber has no doubt this winery will be one of the best in the region."

Other supporters of the project included Stuart Spencer, the program manager for the Lodi Winegrape Commission, the Farm Bureau Federation and other grape growers and wine producers.

The opposition was led by Sacramento attorney Thomas A. Enslow, who represented the Friends and Neighbors of Sustainable Agriculture, a concerned residents' group.

"It's clear from the scope of this project that there are many negative impacts," he said.

At its full capacity the winery would hold 15.7 million gallons of wine.

It would be built in seven steps on 25 acres on the corner of Jahant Road and Lower Sacramento Road. The first phase includes a 23,667-square-foot building for a tank farm and storage, two settling ponds, two treatment ponds, a 96-square-foot office, and an equally sized caretaker residence; vineyards, a parking lot and grape presses.

In the second phase, a 22,030-square-foot building for a tank farm and two settling ponds would be added, and a water treatment pond would be expanded.

In following years, an additional 70,666 square feet of warehouses, bottling plants, office space and a wine tasting room would be built.

The winery would start off with 10 employees weekdays and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. By 2025, the employee count would increase to 60.

The county received several letters from residents worried about noise, traffic, air quality, lighting, aesthetics, water quality and wildlife in the area.

According to a County Community Development Department report, noise would not be a problem because the nearest neighbor to a truck entrance would be 800 feet away, and the nearest neighbors to grape presses would be 1,400 feet away.

The Langes would also plant an oak forest to block noise coming from the plant.

County analysts wrote in their report that wastewater treatment ponds would process all wastewater coming from the winery, and that ground and surface water would not be affected. There would also be no bad odors coming from the plant, the analysts wrote, that any lighting would stay on the winery property, and that there would be no aesthetic problems because of planned landscaping around the property.

On the issue of protecting habitats for wildlife, the Public Works Department reported that the San Joaquin Council of Governments will determine if the Langes are eligible to participate in the county's Multi-species Habitat Conservation and Open Space plan to relocate any habitats.

The most important concern residents had in their letters to the county and at the meeting was the traffic: Congestion, safety and the ability -- or inability -- for Jahant Road to handle 20-ton big rigs.

Enslow and several others spoke about a dangerous stretch of Jahant Road referred to by some residents as "Dead Man's Curve."

The county's Public Works has determined that the winery would be able to have no more than 130 vehicles trips per day, even in 2025. In that year, the department estimated that there will be 125 one way trips to the facility, including trucks, employees and visitors.

Randall Lange said at the meeting that all of the deliveries would be handled by winery staff, so the winery would have complete control over the traffic.

Still, the residents who opposed the project said that it was impossible to know if or how the area would be impacted.

"This is just a factory to me," Jahant Road resident Bob Hallanger said. "This is pristine property. The winery would be an eyesore."

Enslow said that while a winery was technically classified as an operation that could be placed on agricultural-zoned land; this winery should not have applied.

"Let's not get caught up in semantics," he said. "This is a large industrial facility."

The attorney also mentioned several figures about how the facility would break from the county's general plan, to which the commissioners said that he was reaching for something that wasn't there -- that his numbers were false.

"You have covered all of these (topics), but I disagree with all of your conclusions," Commissioner Stan Morri said.

Contact reporter Roman Gokhman at romang@tracypress.com.