Residents who want to limit the number of wine-tasting rooms in Los Olivos were told at a recent meeting that they have to stop suffering in silence if they want to force any official action, but they were also told that the problems they cite are not going to be fixed overnight.

“We want the sheriffs to hear from the horse's mouth of what people are experiencing so they can take action; that's what I want to come of tonight's meeting,” said Shelley Lane of Los Olivos.

Lane and Trish Hernandez, also of Los Olivos, coordinated the meeting Aug. 11 at the Grange Hall in Los Olivos. About 70 Santa Ynez Valley residents made comments or expressed opinions on wine tasting in Los Olivos, and some of them signed a petition demanding that Santa Barbara County cap the number of tasting rooms in the town of about 1,100, which has more than a dozen tasting rooms in just a few blocks.

However, when sheriff's Lt. Mark Liddi asked whether the disturbances people were mentioning had been reported to the sheriff's department, the majority of them said no.

Lt. Marty Maples of the California Highway Patrol's Buellton office also attended to hear the complaints and answer questions, and confirmed Liddi's report that very few alcohol-related arrests are made in Los Olivos.

Despite the dozens of people in the audience, Lane said after the meeting that she was disappointed not more community members came. “It will be a challenge to get this ordinance through, and the first start is getting people to know to call the cops regarding any disturbance in Los Olivos to get this documented,” she said. Another meeting will be scheduled, she added, for people to discuss further any ways to get more laws and regulations enacted.

“The bottom line is getting more diversity into Los Olivos,” Lane said.

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Also attending was Santa Barbara County 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone, whose family recently sold a vineyard and tasting room outside Los Olivos, and the owners of several wine-tasting rooms and other businesses in Los Olivos.

Several people associated with tasting rooms spoke but left quickly without giving their names. Among other things, they said they work hard to control intoxicated customers and frequently call to warn other tasting rooms

after an intoxicated person leaves.

“They're talking about a real problem, but there's not really a clear definition of it yet,” said Art White, owner of Arthur Earl tasting room in Los Olivos, on Tuesday after the meeting.

People already have two valid options to oppose new tasting rooms, he noted, through the county planning process when new applications are filed, and through the state Alcoholic Beverage Control licensing system.

And more tasting rooms doesn't necessarily mean more customers, he said. His statistics show a decline in customers since a boom in 2006 after the movie “Sideways.”

However, he added, he wouldn't mind a limit on the number of tasting rooms because it would only reduce the competition for his business.

“As a non-tasting-room business in Los Olivos, I depend on tourism. Otherwise there is no way to survive on local traffic only. What happens to my business if the wineries go?” asked Keith Saarloos of Los Olivos.

“As a mother and a health practitioner, I have concerns about sending mixed messages to my children as they walk from school, seeing drunk people, and we teach them about the consequences of alcohol,” Lane said. She referred to Healdsburg in Sonoma County, which she said has an ordinance to deal with a similar concentration of tasting rooms, and recommended a similar ordinance for Los Olivos.

According to Healdsburg senior planner Lynn Goldberg, the Healdsburg City Council decided not to adopt a numeric cap but to have the city's Planning Commission review applications for new tasting rooms on a case-by-case basis.

Since that zoning ordinance was adopted in 1998, the number of tasting rooms in Healdsburg has declined, Goldberg said. However, more applications have begun to come in recently, she added.

Toward the end of the meeting, Firestone told residents they need to speak up, to both law enforcement and county officials. For example, Lane and Hernandez's petitions Monday asked the county Board of Supervisors to include a tasting-room restriction in the Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan, which the county is updating.

“I was hit between the eyes at the EIR (environmental impact report) meeting (for the community plan update) a few weeks ago because no one talked to me about their frustrations,” Firestone said.

Lane responded that she had come to Firestone several years ago but Firestone had not helped her then.

Firestone answered that he had thought that the wine-tasting rooms would be self-limiting, but that hasn't happened. He suggested that residents need to collect evidence before they bring the ordinance issue to the Board of Supervisors.

“The first line of defense is law enforcement, and I can see you have already started on that. Secondly, there needs to be (a new county ordinance requiring) conditional use permits” when a new tasting room wants to open ... “that will help limit the number of licenses issued,” Firestone said.

Also, he said, going through the Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan would be a bad idea because the residents' issue would get lost in a document that covers broader, more general issues.

August 17, 2008