The City of Sonoma encourages members of the community to attend a drop-in meeting to bring their questions and provide feedback on issues associated with wine tasting rooms in downtown Sonoma and options for potential regulations. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 17, 2018 from 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. at the City of Sonoma Emergency Operations Center (EOC), 177 First Street East (at back of the Police Station). It will be structured as an informal session, so that participants may stop by at any time during the two-hour meeting to ask questions and provide feedback.
In recent years, the City has experienced a growing trend of wineries establishing a store-front wine-tasting presence in the Sonoma Plaza. The City Council has identified this as an issue for community discussion. In December, City Council adopted an urgency ordinance placing an interim moratorium on the establishment of Wine Tasting Rooms in the Plaza Retail Overlay District pending the consideration and study of zoning and other land use regulations pertaining to Wine Tasting Rooms.
After the community meeting and the completion of other stakeholder outreach in April, the Planning Commission will discuss and develop recommendations for subsequent consideration by the City Council. For more information about the moratorium and to follow the City’s progress on wine tasting rooms, visit www.sonomacityorg/wine-tasting-room-regulation/.