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Bonsall CSG recommends Bonsall Oaks permits

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Bonsall Community Sponsor Group unanimously recommended that permits be granted for the winery tasting room and the bed and breakfast for the Bonsall Oaks development.

The 5-0 vote Sept. 7 recommended that the County of San Diego approve a Minor Use Permit for the bed and breakfast and an Administrative Permit for a Small Winery tasting room.

"I think it's a good idea. It's going to be nice for the area," said sponsor group member Gary McGiboney.

The project was called the Polo Club in 1999 when the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved a final map to subdivide the 449.54-acre parcel on the north side of Gopher Canyon Road at Vista Valley Road into up to 165 dwelling units with two open space lots. The development was conditioned to obtain permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board before construction could begin.

The ownership negotiated with the regulatory agencies, and the project has undergone multiple design changes so that the required permits could be obtained. The subdivision was renamed Bonsall Oaks when Bonsall Oaks, LLC, agreed to purchase the project from Vista Villas Development, L.P.

Bonsall Oaks will be constructed in phases. Phase 1 consists of a winery, a tasting room, and a bed and breakfast off of Oak Bridge Drive. The tasting room and bed and breakfast will be across Gopher Canyon Road from the entrance to the Vista Valley Country Club. Phase 2 will include 59 residential lots, Phase 3 will provide 57 residential lots, Phase 4 will build 41 residential lots, and Phase 5 will construct seven custom homes.

The sponsor group would have had concerns if the permit allowed for weddings or other special events, but Bonsall Oaks does not plan to use the site as a wedding or other special events venue. "It's truly just a bed and breakfast," said Bonsall Oaks, LLC, managing partner David Pallinger.

The owner of the Vista Valley Country Club is a partner in Bonsall Oaks, and Pallinger noted that not having special events at Bonsall Oaks would eliminate the need to split staff with the Vista Valley Country Club.

When the Board of Supervisors adopted the county's tiered winery ordinance in 2010 special events including weddings and parties were prohibited at boutique wineries. A 2016 amendment defined an event as an organized activity or gathering which is advertised or promoted, although agricultural instruction and educational tours are exempt as are production, sales, and tasting activities.

The 2016 changes also allowed up to six community events sponsored by a non-profit organization or government agency and open to the public each year contingent upon issuance of all permits required by the Sheriff and the county's Department of Environmental Health (now the Department of Environmental Health and Quality). The permit thus does not need to be conditioned to limit special events to six activities each year.

 

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