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Newcastle Community Association

 

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June, 2008 NCA Newsletter

Hello NCA Members,

We have three articles in this edition of our newsletter:
* Tuesday Nights at the Movies in Marshall Square
* Winery Ordinance Changes from the Neighborhood Rescue Group
* Thank you note from one of last year's scholarship recipients
As always, we welcome your feedback on the level of detail and the frequency of our newsletters.
Tuesday Night at the Movies in Marshall Square
The Music Exchange and NABA (Newcastle Area Business Association) are presenting a Silent Film Festival this summer – three evenings of silent films, accompanied by a "Maestro" in the field – Gregg Isett.  
Once a month: Tuesday, June 10th, Tuesday, July 8th, Tuesday, August 12th
starts at dark 8:30-9:00 p.m. Bring your chair and snacks. Donations accepted to benefit local seniors All family members welcome, but leave Fido at home, please.
 
Music and Film presented by the Music Exchange Hosted by NABA (Newcastle Area Business Association) Greg Isett, a local resident and accomplished concert organist, learned how to play the keyboard by ear – to accompany silent films.  He has a large collection of comedies and will be sharing a few at our outdoor theater in Marshall Square.
The Boy Scouts will be providing snacks.  We invite you to bring your family and lawn chairs for an educational and historic adventure with actors and cinemas from the past.  A brief intro of the film(s) will be given, and then about 45 minutes of film – total time 1-1.5 hours, starting about dusk (8:45 or so) on three separate occasions – June 10th, July 8th and August 12th. 
 
Winery Ordinance Changes from the Neighborhood Rescue Group

I would like to inform you and other NCA members about the current status of the proposed winery ordinance. After many public hearings in 2007, the Planning Dept. proposed ordinances that included:

  1. A requirement for a Minor Use Permit (MUP) for wineries on private roads and wineries on less that 10 acres
  2. If a winery wanted to avoid the public hearing and "restrictions" that come from the MUP process, they could apply for a less restrictive Administrative Review Permit (ARP) if they have 10+ acres, public road access and a tasting room of less than 1000 square feet.
  3. Winemaker luncheons, dinners and picnics could only occur during pre-scheduled dates and times and reservations had to be made 48 hours ahead of time.
  4. Wineries with "tasting activities" had to have 20 foot wide paved access roads.
  5. Wineries accessed from a private road had to participate in a road maintenance district and demonstrate a "fair share" based upon average daily traffic from the winery.
  6. Wineries accessed from a public road were subject to make access improvements per County Standard Plate R-17 Standards and were subject to fair-share cost of the maintenance fee.
  7. Promotional Events required a MUP in Residential Ag Zoning or on a private road. 

Smaller Wineries with Tasting Rooms less than 735 square feet had the following restrictions: 

8.   Could sell a maximum of 3000 cases/year

9.   Tastings were by appointment only

10.   Maximum of 15 vehicles per week

11. Maximum of 4 Promotional Events per year and a max of 120 vehicles per day

12. No Special Events including renting the winery out for weddings, parties,             conferences etc.

13.  If the winery had 4 Promotional Events in a year they could not have Temporary               Outdoors Events.

  

In 2008 the winery ordinance went before the Agriculture Commission and everything changed. One of the Ag Commissioners co-owns Secret Ravine Winery and Vineyard in Loomis and her husband works for Sierra deMontserraut Housing Development with 45 acres of vineyards in Loomis. This housing development intertwines vineyards among high-end custom homes.

In short, the Ag Commission stripped the ordinance of All the restrictions I listed above and it now lacks any meaningful protection to residents. All wineries with tasting rooms can now sell 20,000 cases per year. If a property is zoned Farm, a winery is approved simply based on the zoning. If the property is zoned Residential Ag, an ARP is all that is needed (we know from experience that this is a "rubber stamp" from the Planning Dept). If a winery is accessed by a public road, the Engineering Dept needs "reasonable proof of access rights". Based on my conversation with the Engineering Dept, unless your easement prohibits such access to a winery and tasting room, they have no reason to disallow it. There are no restrictions on days of operation, hours of operation, or numbers of patrons for wine tasting, special events, promotional events or temporary outdoor events.
In fact, wineries with approved Minor Use Permits that do have restrictions on days of operation, hours of operation, number of patrons etc will no longer have to comply become according to the County their MUP becomes moot and they will only need to comply with the new ordinance. Since the Planning Commission approved this revised ordinance, all that is left is approval by the Board of Supervisors. Neighborhood Rescue Group is committed to fighting this ordinance and has hired local environmental attorney Bill Yeates to represent us.
How long and how far we fight the County will depend on the level of financial support from groups like the NCA, NRG and others we are approaching. The cost of fighting the County is likely to range from $8,000 to $60,000 depending on appeals. Our hope is to prevail and get our attorney fees reimbursed but there is no guarantee. If any of your members would like to help, NRG needs your financial support to carry this fight forward. I can be reached at double.duck@yahoo.com. I urge NCA members to write or email our Supervisor Jim Holmes and object to this commercialization of our private roads and our neighborhoods under the cloak of farming.
Update as of July 8, 2008, as per Michael Leyton, who attended on behalf of Newcastle Community Association.  Meeting of the Board of Supervisors - item tabled for further review of correspondence/public input.  Primary issue seems to be minimum size parcel required to have a winery - supporters of NRG want larger parcels, growers with smaller parcels want equal right to have winery.  Issue still pending...

 

Thank you note from Emily Roskelley, one of last year's scholarship recipients 
College is the most incredible experience of my life, and I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity through your scholarship. I just finished my first semester at Brigham Young University, and I absolutely love it. Everything is going really well, and I have learned so much already. In three years, I hope to graduate with a degree in Accounting. Thank you so much for making my dream become a reality.
Sincerely,
Emily Roskelley

 

NCA Emergency Messaging Service:
The Newcastle Community Association is pleased to offer a messaging service to all of its members.  The NCA is partnering with the Newcastle Elementary School to offer the valuable service at no increase in the membership fee.  If you choose to sign up for the service, you would be notified by phone when there is an emergency or when there are community events in the Newcastle area.  If you would like to subscribe tot he service, please complete the enclosed form and mail it to P.O. Box 777, Newcastle, CA 95658.  There are two options

Emergency service.  If there were a fire anywhere in Newcastle, and the fire department recommended that people on the two neighboring streets were also notified, we would send phone messges to all members who subscribe to the service on all three streets.  If you choose not to sign up, we won't notify you.

Community events.  We can let you know when there are community activities in the Newcastle area.  We would notify you when Newcastle Celebration Day or the Mandarin Festival are scheduled.

We are also looking for volunteers to help with all the activities of the NCA.  Your community association always needs help from the members to keep the membership fee reasonable and to maintain the rural flavor of Newcastle.  If you have some time to contribute, please contact Diane Ross.  Please return the form only if you are interested in the emergency service which is included in the membership fee.

 
 

Name:________________________________________________________________________

Phone Number__________________________________________________________________

Alternate Phone (Optional and recommended if you have a dial-up internet connection)______________________

Option Preference:   _____ Emergency notice only

                               _____ Other events/notices

Send with your $10 membership fee (if you are not already a member) to NCA, P. O. Box 777, Newcastle, CA 95658