Special use permit hearing for Hillside Vineyard

[Church of Beethoven NoCo]

Commissioner Kefalas,

Thanks loads for taking questions about special use permits today at the community conversation for Laporte and Fort Collins.

As you might know, Church of Beethoven had to move our venue from Hillside Vineyard because the neighbors questioned whether the Blendings Winery agritourism special use permit included "church services."

Church of Beethoven was developed as a civic project under the auspices of the Larimer county CSU Extension's family Leadership Training Institute. 

The neighbors have demanded 28 special use hearings for this property, in a way that appears to me to be abusive to a local business and to the county resources. 

At one point, they challenged the vineyard because they said that the clapping after weddings would interfere with their peaceful enjoyment of their property, and demanded that Hillside limit their weddings at the event center to 19 per year. Meanwhile, the neighbors shoot prairie dogs on their own property-- more disturbing than people applauding a husband and wife. 

The new owners, Tiffany and  MIke were so generous to offer C of Beethoven a free venue to host hour long Sunday classical music concerts with a free glass of wine or special Aronia superfood berry juice. 

When it became obvious that our season was threatened, Tiffany even offered to support us with chairs and tents at an off-site alternate venue. We are so grateful to them, and feel that they have been abused by their neighbors. 

They are providing jobs and bringing business into the area and are being stopped by bullies who have abused the county's permitting process by demanding more than two dozen hearings. 

Last month, the county's permitting office granted Hillside Vineyard the authority to host yoga classes and wine/berry tastings on Sunday afternoons, in spite of the neighbors' complaints. These events were considered approved under the winery's agritourism permit, which is a different address and a different license than the wineyard's event center. 

Church of Beethoven also was supposed to be at the Blendings Winery under their agrotourism permit.

Tiffany was told that a special use permit hearing for concerts/wine tastings was at discretion of commissioners and could take up to a year. 

We would like to be able to support the new owners of Blending Winery at any type of special use hearing. 

We would be interested to find out, please, how these hearings are scheduled and what a potential timeline might be.

 

Jean Lotus & Leslie Merriman, 

Co-directors of Church of Beethoven - NoCo

[Church of Beethoven NoCo]

Thank you!

On Sat, May 8, 2021 at 8:27 PM John Kefalas <kefa...@co.larimer.co.us> wrote:

Jean & Leslie,

Thank you for this follow up and inquiry regarding special events/use permits and the situation with the Hillside Vineyard. As I mentioned this morning, I will forward your inquiry to our Community Development  and Planning Directors to answer your questions about special events/use permits and special review processes and timelines. It is not clear to me what applications have been submitted by new owners of the Hillside Vineyard/Blendings Winery. In the meantime, please review the links and the attachment.

https://www.larimer.org/planning/development/zoning

https://www.larimer.org/sites/default/files/uploads/2019/rezoning_options_11x17_0.pdf

https://apps.larimer.org/specialevent/

	John Kefalas County Commissioner, District 1
	Commissioners' Office 200 W Oak St | 2nd Floor PO Box 1190, Fort Collins, CO 80522-1190 W: (970) 498-7001 Cell:  (720) 254-7598 jkef...@larimer.org | www.larimer.org

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