LAKEPORT — Langtry Farms will put in a new golf course following a Tuesday approval from the Lake County Board of Supervisors.
The 175-acre, 18-hole, championship golf course planned for the Middletown vineyard got the board”s unanimous approval. Several community members spoke Tuesday and submitted letters of approval, including the Lake County Farm Bureau, the Middletown Area Town Hall (MATH) and the Sierra Club Lake Group. Langtry Farms president Chuck Doty said construction will start in May.
Langtry Estate & Vineyards president Easton Manson said the project will be good for the vineyard and the county.
“We don”t have wine caves or some of the other amenities other vineyards have to draw visitors. We can use the natural beauty in Guenoc Valley. We need to be differentiated from out competitors, especially our competitors in Napa and Sonoma,” Manson said.
Land Logistics planning consultant Brian Millar told the board that the vineyard currently produces 100,000 cases per year. After completion of a new wastewater treatment facility, Langtry”s goal is to produce the 500,000 cases it is now able to produce.
“One hundred and fifty thousand cases is in viticultural no-man”s land. We”re competing with vineyards that produce 200,000 and 300,000 cases. It”s imperative that we grow and compete in what is becoming very much a global market,” Manson said.
“We always get excited when someone wants to invest millions of dollars in the area, and to have a good neighbor do that, we are very much in support,” MATH representative Fletcher Thornton said.
Sierra Club Lake Group Chair Victoria Brandon told the board that while the group usually does not support golf courses, this one was different.
“This is part of the ag business, and it”s going to be an asset not only to Langrry but to the rest of the county. This could be a model (for agritourism); it has a tremendous amount of promise. This will send a message that we value our ag-zoned land, and that we will not allow it to be transformed to other uses without careful consideration,” Brandon said.
County Supervisor Denise Rushing said she came into the decision with mixed feelings.
“What concerned me was that this is a general plan amendment for a private golf course, so that was the visceral reaction. And this is just the first step in a bigger plan. But I”m impressed with the community support. It would”ve been hard to convince me to vote for this, but you may have convinced me,” Rushing said.
The decision required rezoning approximately 195 acres of the ranch land from agriculture to rural lands, and 49 acres zoned as rural residential to rural lands to accommodate the golf course.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
