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Rhetorical excess lives and
breathes on both sides of this debate. I can certainly agree that HB 1435 is an attempt to clarify what the state regulates and what the counties can regulate. In this Sense of course, “clarify” means to restrict counties to regulate only noise and setback. Despite claims to the contrary, there would be no remaining local right to requirements for “public safety regulations” or indeed, anything else.
We are a Dillon’s Rule state, wherein local governments have only those powers which are expressly granted or reasonably inferred by State law. We have a grant to regulate land use, but the legislature comes in periodically to restrict this grant. The Right to Farm Act is such an example, and the proposed HB1435 is another. Not to quibble over semantics, but this is not “clarity”, this is pre- emption.
Farm wineries are and have been a great boon to agriculture in the Commonwealth, reviving in many cases all but moribund local Ag economies, contributing to tourism and having an economic multiplier effect on both the Ag and Tburism bases of local economies far out of proportion to their size. They are not a panacea, nor is everything that happens on a vineyard property by definition “agricultural”.
This bill attempts, however, to say that it is. If a farm winery wanted to rent out its grounds for weddings, seminars, etc, for hundreds of people, day in and day out, they would probably be perfectly able to do so so long as they made sure to offer tastings; a booth by the entrance might do it.
As a matter of competition, I also note that if you have a
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