Planning Commission permits DeLuz wedding venue

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The county’s Planning Commission permitted a wedding venue facility in the 38100 block of DeLuz Road.

A 6-0 Planning Commission vote Jan. 21, with Doug Barnhart absent, granted the Major Use Permit for the facility and adopted findings that no further environmental review is necessary to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.

The 30-acre property has A70 Limited Agriculture zoning along with its RL-20 Rural Lands land use designation. Wedding and event venues are allowed in the A70 zone if a Major Use Permit is granted. The facility had been operating without the Major Use Permit before being notified of the permit requirement. The facility is not currently operating, and a request for a Major Use Permit was submitted in September 2020. The wedding activity would encompass 2.2 acres of the property.

The parcel also includes an active avocado orchard. Although a barn on-site is permitted, the interior alterations of that barn had not been permitted. Unpermitted structures on the site include a single-family dwelling, agricultural storage sheds, and an open-sided patio cover used as a drink cabana bar. The Major Use Permit will be conditioned to require building and grading permits for all of the unpermitted work, and septic permits from the county’s Department of Environmental Health and Quality are among the conditions of the Major Use Permit.

The Major Use Permit limits wedding events to two days a week with a maximum capacity of 156 people, including staff and employees as well as guests, for each event. Only one wedding may occur each day. Event activity on the facility will be allowed from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. with amplified noise allowed until 10 p.m. or from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. with no amplified noise past 9 p.m.

The county’s noise ordinance limits noise to 50 dBA at the property line between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. The amplified music will be adjacent to or within the existing barn, approximately 350 feet away from the nearest property line and approximately 650 feet away from the nearest neighboring residence.

The drink cabana and barn along with existing outside hardscape space will be used for weddings. The barn will include restroom facilities, a food preparation area, and bride and groom changing rooms, and it may also be used as the wedding venue itself if weather prevents outdoor festivities. All food and alcohol must be prepared off-site and catered by a third-party vendor; mobile food trucks will not be allowed.

A decomposed granite surface area can provide 62 parking spaces, including three meeting Americans with Disabilities Act standards. County parking standards for wedding and other event venues require one space per every three guests, so only 50 spaces would be required. Compacted decomposed granite will ensure that the surface is stable, firm, and slip-resistant. Venue employees will manage the parking lot during weddings. A grading permit will allow for the widening of existing driveways, a fire turnaround, and parking areas. The property will be opened at least two hours before any event to avoid traffic backup onto DeLuz Road.

The limit of two events per week creates an average daily estimate of 46 trips, so the traffic and emissions impacts are expected to be less than significant.