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Celebrating SB wine country
Supervisors reject cannabis findings By JOSH GREGA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Vintners Association proposes Santa Barbara County Wine Preserve, local wineries oppose
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors have rejected most of the findings and recommendations made in a County Grand Jury report critical of the board’s cannabis ordinance process. The supervisors made their stance clear at Tuesday’s meeting by voting to send the presiding judge of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court a written response to the report. Of the 12 findings the Grand Jury report makes, those most pointedly directed at the board included accusations that the board didn’t adequately consider the health and welfare of county residents when coming up with the cannabis ordinance. The findings also included that the board’s ad hoc committee for creating cannabis regulations wasn’t subject to the Brown Act and lacked transparency, and that the board was “overly
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
After two years of studying and meeting with vintners, stakeholders and county officials, the Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara Vintners Association proposed forming a new Wine Business Improvement District: the Santa Barbara County Wine Preserve. The Preserve would be funded by a 1% assessment on Direct-toConsumer sales, in an effort to provide funding for Santa Barbara County wine, winery and vineyard promotions. The fee would be charged on all DTC sales that incur state sales tax, including wine, tasting fees, merchandise, food, events and wine clubs. All county wineries and vineyards with DTC sales pay into the assessment, and they’ll be members of the new district without any membership dues. The Wine Preserve is an attempt to compete with other wine countries in the state, such as Napa Valley, Sonoma and Paso Robles, and to get Santa Barbara County’s name on the map, according to supporters of the assessment. However, it has met intense opposition from a coalition of wineries. Alison Laslett, CEO of the Santa Barbara Vintners, said the concept is borrowed from the hotel industry’s bed tax to raise funding for the promotion of their area. “Now we’re looking at a landscape that is very full of festivals — beer festivals, wine festivals, spirit festivals … There’s a lot of competition for that particular space,” she told the News-Press. “What the Wine Preserve does is provide sustainable funding for the wine industry.” The CEO said any wine region has difficulties getting established and getting people on the same page. “One of the things Santa Barbara County wines struggles with is the wine itself is fantastic, but the county as a wine region
chummy” with cannabis industry professionals. Save two findings regarding the county’s unverified affidavit system for legal cannabis growing, the board decided to reject the rest of the findings and only implement one recommendation, that the County Treasurer-Tax Collector be involved with the creation of future ordinances. While quarantined away from the board chambers due to a member of his staff contracting COVID-19, 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino took exception to the Grand Jury’s allegations that the board frequently met with cannabis industry lobbyists and kept the public in the dark about it. The reason being, he said, those lobbyists don’t exist. “As far as I know we have zero registered lobbyists in Santa Barbara County. There are no lobbyists,” he stated. Mr. Lavagnino added that the Please see cannabis on A9
COURTESY PHOTOS
Doug Margerum owns Margerum Wine Company and supports the proposed Santa Barbara County Wine Preserve proposed by the Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara Vintners Association. He believes the county’s wine story needs to be told.
is not as well-known as the reputation of the wine,” Ms. Laslett said. “So part of what we want to do is raise the recognition of the wine and educate people that they have a wine region within a stone’s throw of Los Angeles. It’s about explaining to the consumer that there are wines you can get here that are internationally competitive, available locally.” The Vintners will enter a petition process, and need at least
51% of the industry in favor of the assessment for it to move forward. From there, the proposal will go to all the city councils in the county, as well as the county Board of Supervisors, for approval. “Our ambitious hope is the beginning of next year for implementation,” Ms. Laslett said. Any BID requires all businesses within the specified industry to participate, and each city as well as the county will vote on joining the Wine Preserve. A third-party
accounting firm would collect the fee from the wineries and distribute it to the Wine Preserve, all confidentially. Nicholas Miller is the VP of marketing and sales at The Thornhill Companies, and said having the Wine Preserve will create one unified voice for marketing. “What this process would give us is finally a solution we’ve never
COURTESY PHOTO
Annmarie Rogers, visitor centers director, is set to retire this week. She loves when cruise ships visit the area and would set up a table at the port to welcome new visitors.
Well done, Annmarie
Please see winery on A4
Visitor centers director retires after 25 years By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
At left, the vintners aim for Santa Barbara County to be able to compete with other wine countries in the state by promoting the region as a whole rather than individual companies. At right, the Wine Preserve would come from a 1% assessment on DTC sales on wine, tasting fees, merchandise, food, events and wine clubs.
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Annmarie Rogers, visitor centers director, rarely takes a day off. She keeps the center open all but three days of the year, but she’ll soon learn to enjoy time off. “I’m supposed to work 40 hours, but I work way more,” she said. “We’re only closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day.” Wednesday will be her last day as director. She plans on volunteering a lot during retirement, but she needs time to visit her mom in Sweden for a few weeks.
“In retirement, I hope she gets to enjoy time with family and loved ones and that she continues to have the joy she’s spread to so many people,” said Stephanie Armstrong, chief marketing officer of the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Rogers is known for her smile and welcoming personality. TripAdvisor reviewers mention enjoying talking to the woman from Finland. (She was born in the U.S. but lived in Sweden; people must mistake her accent as Finnish.) “I feel like the visitor centers and Annmarie Rogers Please see rogers on A3
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