St. Helena winery owner settles dispute with county

A St. Helena-area winery owner has ended a multi-year fight with Napa County building and planning officials and has agreed to install a sprinkler system, despite his objections that sprinklers would damage the character of his historic, 1870s-era building.

Bill Ballentine, owner of William Cole Vineyards off Highway 29 north of St. Helena, relented to mounting pressure Napa County officials had put on him to install the fire-suppression sprinkler system, which is required by county building codes, said Mel Varrelman, a former county supervisor whos been advocating on Ballentines behalf. Installing the system cost $250,000, he said.

Napa County Supervisor Diane Dillon disputed the characterization that the county had unduly pressured Ballentine, saying he agreed to install the sprinkler system in settling a lawsuit the county filed last year against William Cole. Dillon said county staff had asked Ballentine to provide an alternative to the system that still complied with safety code requirements, but he never did.

He agreed (to that) in a stipulated court order, Dillon said. If Mr. Ballentine wants an alternative, he has to ask us for it.

Ballentine and Varrelman had argued that the fire-sprinkler requirement should never have applied to William Cole in the first place. The building was constructed out of stone in the early 1870s specifically so it wouldnt burn.

The bottom half of the building serves as the winerys tasting room, wine cave entry, and production facility, while the top half serves as the residence Ballentine shares with his wife, Jane. After purchasing the property, Ballentine invested heavily in time and money to restore the building to its precise historic state. Running a fire sprinkler system up the side of the building was an affront, he said earlier this year.

Ballentine attempted to have the property listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and submitted that request to the California Office of Historic Preservation. That would have enabled Ballentines winery to be put under state historic building regulations, which are more lax on fire suppression requirements.

Ballentine stopped operating his winery for months this year while the request was pending. Varrelman said the state declined to grant it, citing the ongoing dispute with the county government. With no other options, he agreed to install the sprinklers.

This is an expenditure of about $250,000 that is absolutely meaningless, Varrelman said. They werent going to back off. They were going to take him to court and basically run him out of business.

Ballentine was also required to widen an access road to the residential portion of the property to conform with county standards, but that required removing landscaping and trees that were put in by the famed landscape designer Thomas Church. The Ballentines have preserved and restored as much landscaping from Churchs design as possible.

Here is the original post:
St. Helena winery owner settles dispute with county