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Design Review Board recommends approval for winery tasting room and production facility with conditions, waives some landscape/sidewalk requirements
Summary
After substantial discussion, the board recommended approval of DR 2025-47 for a winery tasting room and production facility at 4952 North Gooderjohn Lane with site-specific conditions: staff review of lighting and bike rack details, confirmation of mechanical screening, submittal of third‑floor plans, a 3,000K maximum for wall‑packs, interior parking-lot trees at terminal islands and board acceptance of tree removal without mitigation.
The Design Review Board voted to recommend approval of DR 2025-47, a change-of-use and design-review application to convert a residence into a tasting room and to add a production facility at 4952 North Gooderjohn Lane. Applicant Amanda Gates (owners/operators) described the project as a working vineyard and winery within the Eagle Foothills AVA and said the site includes about 30 acres of open green space and provides the educational opportunity of an operational vineyard.
The production facility footprint and storage areas were discussed in detail; the applicant described approximately 8,000 square feet of production with additional sheltered storage and a main tasting-room floor plan (2,042 sq ft on the main level and 1,268 sq ft on a lower daylight level). Staff noted a discrepancy in submitted figures for the production building (applicant cited 17,090 sq ft; staff cited 19,090 sq ft in submitted materials) and flagged several code items: vertical metal siding facing the road requires a waiver, perimeter and interior parking-lot landscaping targets, tree-mitigation requirements, and wall-pack lighting color temperature (staff requested a maximum of 3,000K instead of 5,000K shown).
Board members divided on whether to require sidewalk and perimeter parking-lot landscaping along Gooder John Lane; members noted the road dead-ends, steep slopes in places and the rural agricultural context. After extended discussion the board recommended approval with multiple clarifications: the board accepted the applicant’s request to remove specified trees without mitigation, required submission and staff review (and one board member review) of bollard/boulder light cut sheets and bicycle-rack specifications, required confirmation that ground‑mounted mechanical units will be screened, required a revised wall-pack cut sheet showing a maximum of 3,000K, requested a third-floor floor plan for record, and recommended interior parking-lot terminal islands be landscaped with three trees while encouraging an adjusted approach to parallel parking near the entrance to avoid future circulation pinch points.
Amanda Gates told the board the site is within the Eagle Foothills AVA and emphasized the agricultural nature of the vineyard, while planning staff (Aurelie Morfin) laid out the code issues and options for waivers. Following the motions and clarifications, the board carried the motion by voice vote.
