Santa Barbara County recently approved the Santa Barbara Vintners’ petition document and management district plan for a Wine Preserve, or Business Improvement District (BID), moving the vintners organization a step forward in its campaign.
The Santa Barbara Vintners’ push for a Wine Preserve — a 1% assessment on all direct-to-consumer sales — kicked off early this year with a winemakers meeting and the hiring of Civitas Advisors, a firm that specializes in developing and advocating for tourism and travel promotion.
With the county’s recent approval, “our goal is to collect petitions over the next few weeks and hope to make a county Board of Supervisors meeting tentatively scheduled for December,” said Alison Laslett, CEO of the Santa Barbara Vintners. She noted that only supporters need to sign a petition, since any winery that does not sign will not be counted.
More than 50% of the assessed industry must submit petitions to the county in support of the formation of a Wine Preserve by late November in order to make an early December meeting at the Board of Supervisors.
Laslett said she won’t know “for two to three weeks” whether the Santa Barbara Vintners will meet the required minimum 50% to make a December meeting.
“It’s very much a moving target,” she said.
There is no deadline on petition collection, meaning the organization can continue to accrue support as time passes, until it reaches the required 50% to move ahead. That will trigger the next hearing.
The county will host three meetings for the formation of the Wine Preserve, she said. Between meetings one and two, the SBV has to communicate with all eight of the cities that would be affected by the BID. The cities range from Guadalupe to Carpinteria.
When the next meeting takes place, the Board of Supervisors gives the wine industry the right to pursue formation of the district — it does not form the district, according to documentation from the county.
Once approval from the cities has been secured, the Board of Supervisors will hold a public meeting specifically to hear support or concerns. No action will be taken at that meeting; it is purely for the public’s benefit. The third and final meeting, expected next spring after the public hearing, would be the formation hearing.