TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Brian D. Bordona, Director of Planning, Building and Environmental Services
REPORT BY: Emily Hedge, Planner III
SUBJECT: Castello Di Amorosa Winery Appeal
RECOMMENDATION
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Consideration and possible action regarding an appeal filed by Water Audit California (Appellant or WAC) concerning the decisions made by the Napa County Planning Commission on April 2, 2025 for to: (1) find the project categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act and (2) approve Use Permit Major Modification No. P19-00459, Castello Di Amorosa Winery, to recognize and approve items that are out of compliance with the permitted entitlements and for an expansion beyond existing entitlements. (No Fiscal Impact)
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BACKGROUND
The matter before the Board involves an appeal filed by WAC concerning the decisions made by the Planning Commission (Commission) on April 2, 2025, to approve Castello di Amorosa's Use Permit Major Modification No. P19-00459 to recognize and approve items that are out of compliance with the permitted entitlements and for an expansion beyond existing entitlements and find the project categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The Project approval included recognition of: an increase in the number of employees to 153 employees; an increase in daily visitation to 427,541 annual guests (including daily and weekly maximums); an increase in annual marketing events for a total of 103 events; and conducting hospitality activities in portions of the building originally approved for production uses (approximately 18,550 s.f. located in numerous rooms throughout the winery buildings). The Project approval also included new requests for: designation of additional areas within the buildings for hospitality uses (approximately 14,000 s.f. converted from entitled production areas); conversion of a portion of the existing Type 1 cave (approximately 8,823 s.f.) to a Type 2 cave, allowing tours; incr...
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