Neighbors Kill San Pasqual Winery’s Expansion Bid

San Pasqual Vineyards, struck down by a virus that killed many of its grapevines, suffered yet another defeat Friday when its neighbors in the rural San Pasqual Valley south of Escondido effectively blocked expansion of the troubled business.

San Diego Zoning Administrator Sharron Carr denied an application for a city permit to expand the winery’s tasting room by nearly 5,000 square feet. The winery sits on city-owned property within the San Pasqual agricultural preserve.

The winery’s owners, retired Superior Court Judge Charles Froehlich and attorney Milton Fredman, have an agreement to sell the business to Paul Taylor, a Rancho Santa Fe resident, and his partner William Jaeger, a Napa Valley wine baron, contingent on receiving city permission to expand.

Valley residents protested what they called disruptive activities at the winery and the possibility that these commercial ventures would be increased if the city approved expansion of the building.

Charity events, such as 10-kilometer runs that begin at 6 a.m., fund-raisers, political rallies and private parties that lasted until midnight or later had nearby residents on edge over the proposed sale and enlargement of the winery. Noise from processing machinery and from outdoor loudspeakers and bands used during some of the events, plus traffic problems caused by visitors to the events were cited by protesters who appeared at Friday’s zoning hearing.

Froehlich admitted that the winery had been run with less success than had his legal career, and said that the officers of the firm would “no doubt appeal” Carr’s denial of their permit.

A federal bankruptcy court hearing scheduled for Monday on the sale of the winery and a sublease on 121 acres of city land to Taylor and Jaeger is expected to be continued until the issue is heard by the city Board of Planning and Zoning Appeals. The ultimate appeal of the issue is to the San Diego City Council.

The owners of the vineyard filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy laws about a year ago, citing the financial impact of the viral disease that had reduced the San Pasqual vineyards to about 10 acres of producing vines. The winery was using grapes imported from Riverside and other out-of-county vineyards.

Jaeger and Taylor argued that expansion of the winery building would allow removal of temporary trailers now used as sales and administrative offices and would cut the noise level by moving outdoor activities indoors. Both men said they would introduce new varieties of vines that would be resistant to the viral disease found in the valley and would again grow the grapes used in San Pasqual Winery products.

Shelley Lindstrom, a member of the newly formed Friends of San Pasqual Valley Homeowners Assn., said that a major commercial venture in the valley would violate city and state laws pertaining to agricultural preserves.

Art McCullough, another protester, said the expansion would allow the new owners to not only sell wines and operate a wine-tasting room but would also allow them to serve meals, “and become a stop-off for tour buses to the Wild Animal Park” nearby.

Carr, in denying the permit, agreed with San Pasqual residents that the proposed expansion was not in accord with the agricultural nature of the rural valley, calling it “more commercialized and industrial than agricultural in use.”

Evergreen Nurseries, which subleases a portion of the winery property for growing ornamental plants, will seek to become the prime lessee of the property in a hearing before a San Diego City Council committee Wednesday.

The City of Escondido also will petition to acquire 30 acres of the winery’s leasehold in exchange for a 15-acre parcel contained in a land sale between the two cities. That sale will result in a jointly owned public golf course on the north shore of Lake Hodges.

Froehlich, Fredman and a small group of investors started the winery in 1974, leasing 252 acres of the city-owned agricultural preserve to grow grapes and process wine. In 1983, the company offered stock to the public in an attempt to raise $1 million to revive the winery operation.

Froehlich admitted that the operation was in financial straits “because we have been producing wine at $40 a case and selling it for $30, while the new owners will produce it for $40 and sell it for $80, because they know the wine business.”