Archive
Subscribe
Weather
 |
|
 |
|
Local vintners join opposition to building hotel near Dayton |
By David Sale, Newberg Graphic reporter
E-mail David at
dsale@eaglenewspapers.com |
DAYTON — An association of 25
area wineries, several from the Dundee Hills, have voiced its
opposition to a luxury hotel proposal now before the Yamhill County
Board of Commissioners. The commissioners are expected to vote on
the proposal at their meeting on Wednesday.
The development proposal was made by Portland developer David Kahn,
a former general manager for the Indiana Pacers basketball team and
leader of an effort to site a major league baseball stadium in the
Portland metro area.
The 50-room hotel would be located on a 72-acre hilltop parcel,
owned by the Timmons family, on Breyman Orchards Road north of
Dayton. Kahn reached an agreement to purchase the property last
winter and is now in the process of closing the sale.
The Yamhill County Planning Commission, in a 7-1 vote, recommended
in its June 1 hearing that Kahn’s request to rezone the land for
development be approved.
“I grew up in Portland, and since I returned here in 2001, I’ve
spent a lot of time in the Yamhill County wine country,” Kahn said.
“I was struck by the fact that there was nothing similar to (Napa
Valley resort) Auberge du Soleil, where my wife and I honeymooned.
California has three hotels of this type — I felt Oregon should have
one.”
Kahn said that the Auberge du Soleil resort was his model for the
proposed Dayton development, which will consist of a group of
single-story cottages on a 12-acre footprint, with additional
landscaping and up to 24 acres of vineyards.
The opposition to the rezoning came from the Vintner’s Coalition
for Economic Progress, an association of 25 wineries organized in
response to Kahn’s proposal.
“If the application is ultimately approved, a precedent will be
created that will open the door for urban, commercial development
pressure on Oregon’s valuable vineyard and agricultural land. ... We
believe that such an outcome would be disastrous for our industry,”
the group stated in a June 19 letter to the county planning board.
The letter cited a similar luxury hotel proposed by the Austin
family, which would be located inside the Newberg urban growth
boundary, as a better example of land use planning.
Planning commissioner Michael Sherwood of Dundee, who cast the lone
dissenting vote, also stated that while hotel development would
boost tourism in Yamhill County, he favored development inside
existing urban growth areas.
“It’s purely a siting issue,” said Alex Sokol-Blosser,
vice-president of Sokol Blosser Winery and one of the signatories of
the letter of opposition. “I’ve met Kahn and he has good intentions
— he sees the opportunity for a hotel on a beautiful site, but this
type of development will affect the fabric of the Oregon wine
industry.”
Jim Prosser of JK Carriere Winery in Newberg also voiced his
distaste for the plan.
“I understand this hotel would potentially benefit my business,” he
said, “but I feel Oregon farmland has been well conserved, and
that’s one of the reasons tourists come here. There’s plenty of
places for this without having to pave over agricultural land.”
In response, Kahn said: “I settled on the Timmons property after an
extensive search — one of the factors was that the property hadn’t
been successfully farmed in the past; there’s never been a vineyard
established there. I’m not taking the position that you couldn’t
build a nice hotel in one of the towns here, but that’s not the idea
we have in mind for this project.”
Should the commissioners deny the rezone request, Kahn said he
would not rule out appealing under Measure 37, but he felt confident
of the merit of the existing proposal.
“We’ve been going through a transparent process,” he said. “It’s
not in anyone’s interest to stir up a civil war.”
“We’ve had our day in court, and if this goes forward, so be it,”
Sokol-Blosser said. “We’ll be good neighbors.” |
|
From
July 1, 2006, Newberg Graphic
Click Here to Subscribe |
|
|
|
 |
|
