Arsenic Levels in Penryn – Continuing Concerns About Project 8 Winery
By Patty Neifer, AEL Member and Penryn Resident
The past couple of months have been spent analyzing the potential benefits of moving forward with a legal challenge of Project 8 Winery. We specifically focused on outcomes benefitting neighbors and the community.
The legal arguments that land use attorney Marsha Burch felt were strongest are that the Project 8 EIR (Environmental Impact Report) fails to comply with CEQA mandates and violations of the Williamson Act Contract. Per Marsha, “Approval of the Project without additional review and revision to bring it into compliance with the Contract would be a violation of CEQA, County Code, and the Williamson Act.”
We also investigated legally challenging noncompliance with the Placer County Ridgeline Protection Ordinance. The unfortunate conclusion is that even if the legal rulings are in our favor, the developer can easily still continue with Project-8-Winery as proposed, as long as he has the support of Placer County Supervisors.
The land can be taken out of Williamson Act contract tax shelter status by the developer with a few fines to be paid. The County can wave fines and give him a new contract and nothing changes except Project 8 pays more property taxes.
If the EIR is found illegal, the developer just has to do another EIR and the Supervisors can still vote to accept the same option with the tower and nothing changes. If we lose, we are obligated to pay for all of the developer’s lost revenue during the delay and the legal fees.
After much consideration, it seems fruitless to continue this legal fight against the Project 8 violations. It’s with a heavy heart that Preserve Penryn must walk away from the continued legal challenge of Project 8.
We plan to continue working to keep our Supervisors accountable to their constituents instead of deep pocket developers. We can still make our voices heard.
Your financial and moral support of our rural lifestyle has been inspiring. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. We are fortunate to live in this wonderful community.