TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Brian D. Bordona - Director of Planning, Building, and Environmental Services
REPORT BY: Michael Parker - Planning Manager
SUBJECT: Adoption of a Resolution of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Napa Sunsetting the Winery Code Compliance Program Effective April 30, 2026
RECOMMENDATION
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Adopt a Resolution sunsetting the Winery Code Compliance Program effective April 30, 2026. (No Fiscal Impact)
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BACKGROUND
The Board of Supervisors has engaged in multi-year efforts to strengthen land use compliance in the unincorporated County. In March 2016, the Board acted on recommendations from the Agricultural Protection Advisory Committee (APAC) and directed staff to implement a phased Code Compliance Program regarding winery use permits. This initial direction focused on establishing a systematic framework for identifying, reporting, and resolving compliance issues, particularly for winery operations, which were identified as a key priority in maintaining public health and safety, inequity relative to those facilities operating in a compliance, and the potential for environmental impacts.
In August 2017, the Board provided additional direction to staff to develop a comprehensive Land Use Compliance Program. The Board’s direction included:
• Establishing enforceable deadlines for property owners operating under a use permit to apply for new or modified use permits to resolve outstanding violations;
• Establishing a voluntary Status Determination application process that allowed land use entitlement permittees to receive a written determination of existing entitlements prior to submitting an application to modify their use permit to resolve outstanding violations;
• Implementing an annual winery reporting program to collect production and grape sourcing data from wineries in the unincorporated county;
• Revising temporary event permitting and enforcement procedures; and
• Recognizing and acknowledging the significant staff workload required to implement and manage compliance programs.
The Board’s direction culminated in the adoption of Resolution No. 2018-164 on December 4, 2018, which formally established the County’s Code Compliance Program framework, which predominantly consisted of winery use permit applications. It was a voluntary, time-limited program designed to allow winery operators and other permittees who were operating outside of their use permit entitlements to continue operations while pursuing use permit modifications or other approvals necessary to bring their operations into compliance.
The Resolution established a deadline for submittal of an application, which was March 29, 2019. In October 2019, the Board adopted amendments to the Use Permit Compliance Program, including a 90-day deadline extension for applicants who had timely submitted Status Determination applications. The extension was intended to provide applicants with additional time to understand and respond to the County’s developing land use policy and permit streamlining efforts, including the Small Winery Protection and Use Permit Streamlining Ordinance.
By the March 2019 deadline a total of 47 Use Permit/Modification entitlement requests were received. Of those, 35 have successfully completed the use permit modification process, three wineries are scheduled for hearings to be considered by the Planning Commission or Zoning Administrator by the end of March 2026, eight have either withdrawn or been voluntarily abandoned by the applicant, and one remains pending and incomplete.
On July 24, 2025, in a Code Compliance update to the Board of Supervisors, the Board unanimously directed the Director of Planning, Building, and Environmental Services to return to the Board at a future date with a resolution to sunset the Use Permit Compliance Program. This direction reflected the Board’s recognition that the program has largely fulfilled its intended purpose and that ongoing use permit compliance should transition back to standard enforcement practices outlined in Section 12D of the Napa County Policy Manual. Since that July direction, staff has communicated multiple times with the program applicants the forthcoming sunset of the program and has encouraged applicants to finalize their applications and complete the process prior to the program’s end date.
Program Completion and Transition
The Code Compliance Program was never intended to be an ongoing or permanent program. It was established as a temporary mechanism to provide a streamlined pathway to compliance that balanced enforcement with fairness.
Sunsetting the program effective April 30, 2026, allows the County to:
• Ensure that remaining cases are resolved in a reasonable timeframe and simultaneously allowing staff to complete environmental analysis, along with adequate time to comply with public review periods and advanced submittal of public hearing notices;
• Maintain consistency in enforcement and permitting processes;
• Clarify expectations for both applicants and staff; and
• Preserve the County’s ability to enforce land use laws through standard compliance pathways.
CEQA Baseline Benefit for Voluntary Participants
One of the incentives of voluntarily participating in the Code Compliance Program was that wineries or other permittees who joined the program were able to establish their existing operations as the CEQA baseline for environmental review. In other words, the program allowed wineries to continue operating at existing levels while simultaneously demonstrating good faith efforts to resolve compliance issues through the application process. This provided an important incentive for participation and facilitated a more efficient path to bringing operations into compliance.
Handling of Remaining Applications
Consistent with Board direction, any code compliance applications not approved and/or continued by the Planning Commission by April 30, 2026, will transition to standard code enforcement and/or permitting processes. After April 30th, applicants with remaining cases may continue to pursue approvals through the standard permitting process and would no longer benefit from key elements of the program, most notably the continued operations outside of legal entitlements and related CEQA baseline. These applications as well as any use permit compliance matters will be addressed through the County’s standard enforcement procedures, which now also includes a one-year waiting period during which applications received to resolve code compliance issues would not be acted upon. This approach ensures fairness to wineries that voluntarily joined the program and successfully achieved compliance, as well as to wineries that have consistently operated within permitted conditions. It also preserves the integrity of the County’s broader Code Compliance initiatives by reinforcing that the program was intended to be time-limited and that ongoing operations must align with approved entitlements.
Program Impact and Lessons Learned
The Code Compliance Program provided a successful model for addressing a large number of existing compliance issues in a structured and efficient manner. The program’s marginal completion rate indicates that most winery operators were willing and able to bring their operations into compliance when provided with a clear pathway and defined expectations.
The program also highlighted key challenges, including the impact of external events (e.g., wildfire, pandemic, drought) and the complexity of state’s regulatory requirements (e.g. Building and Fire Codes, Minimum Fire Safe Regulations, well and wastewater, etc.) on applicants’ ability to complete compliance actions. Despite these challenges, the program successfully resolved most cases and established a framework of lessons learned that can inform future compliance efforts.
Policy Considerations
The Code Compliance Program was established as a policy tool to address noncompliant use permit operations while maintaining the County’s commitment to public health, safety, and environmental protection. The program was designed to incentivize voluntary compliance through a structured process that encouraged applicants to pursue permit modifications rather than continuing unpermitted operations indefinitely. It also provided transparency through annual reporting requirements and established clear expectations for compliance timelines.
Sunsetting the program is consistent with the Board’s long-standing policy of ensuring that land use operations are conducted in accordance with approved entitlements. By closing the program, the County reinforces that compliance pathways are time-limited and that standard enforcement and permitting processes will govern future operations. This supports broader policy goals including:
• Equity and fairness: Ensures all winery operators are subject to the same enforcement standards.
• Regulatory consistency: Prevents indefinite reliance on special compliance programs.
• Environmental protection: Reinforces that operations must be authorized through appropriate environmental review and permits.
• Administrative efficiency: Allows staff to focus resources on standard permit processing, compliance, and enforcement priorities rather than managing a long-term program.
Strategic Implications:
• Sunsetting the program supports the County’s transition to ongoing compliance and enforcement operations that do not rely on special programs.
• The transition of remaining applications to standard enforcement processes strengthens the County’s ability to maintain long-term regulatory integrity and consistency across use permits.
Today’s requested action is that the Board of Supervisors adopt a resolution sunsetting the County Code Compliance Program effective April 30, 2026.
FISCAL IMPACT
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Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
No |
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Is it Mandatory or Discretionary? |
Discretionary |
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Discretionary Justification: |
The Code Compliance Program for wineries and other permittees was intended to be a temporary, time-limited pathway that has successfully resolved the majority of noncompliant winery and non-winery land use entitlement cases. Ending the program will ensure fairness to wineries that complied, reinforce the integrity of the County’s enforcement framework, and allow staff to focus on standard permitting and compliance processes. |
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Is the general fund affected? |
No |
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Consequences if not approved: |
If the Board chooses not to sunset the program, the County would risk extending a temporary compliance mechanism beyond its intended scope, potentially undermining the County’s enforcement framework, creating inequity among winery operators, and requiring continued staff resources to administer a program that has largely achieved its purpose. |
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: This action is not a project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5) because it is an organizational and administrative activity of government that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.