Wine Bar Gets 5-0 OK from Healdsburg City Council

Healdsburg City Council agreed unanimously Monday they "could find no reason to deny" a use permit for Bergamot Alley wine bar and voted 5-0 to

"I'm very grateful to have been heard by the City Council members and I'm very grateful for the result," Wardell said after the 90-minute hearing before about 55 people at

Wardell said he was also gratified by the community support. He and Johnson would immediately resume construction on the new wine bar, with a goal to open by mid-November at 328 Healdsburg Ave., next to the he said.

"We're not a tasting room," Wardell told council members. "We're trying to create a small business, operated by its owners, where we're meeting people and talking to people and where we walk to work."

Council's vote on Monday reverses a . In a two-hour, emotional public hearing, commission members deadlocked 3-3 on the permit approval, which had the effect of rejecting it.

Wardell and Johnson immediately appealed the matter to Healdsburg City Council, saying they would "get a different set of eyes" to look at the project.

Since the Planning Commission meeting, Healdsburg residents have been up in arms on both sides. Almost in a poll on the issue, and about 25 people posted comments on the site.

City Council members on Monday said they were making their decision based on city regulations and statutes, as opposed to emotionality.

"What I looked at was, 'Does this conform to our general plan, and does it meet the requirements of our land use ordinances and does it present a threat to public safety?'" said Councilman Jim Wood.

"After looking at those issues and questions, I can't really say I could find a reason to deny this application," Wood said.

Wood and the other council members said they appreciated the comments and issues raised by the Planning Commission on Sept. 13. Those concerns, which included  "oversaturation" or "undue concentration" of alcohol-serving establishments in the downtown area, do need to be discussed among city leaders, he said.

"But this is not the right venue to have that discussion," Wood said.

Bergamot Alley, which will be open until 2 a.m. -- except for midnight on Sunday -- will provide a place to go for a drink for patrons of the after a show, for the restaurant community after they get off work and for locals and visitors who want a place to go after restaurants close for the evening, Wardell said.

"I don't know Kevin and Sarah," said three-year Healdsburg resident Deborah Kravitz, one of six people who testified at the hearing Monday.

"But it would be a wonderful complement to the town, if, after going to hear music or going to a show at The Raven, to have a place to go to for a glass of wine," she said.

Kravitz said she has been to at least one of the two taverns in town -- and both of which serve whiskey, cocktails and other spirits as well as wine and beer.

"It was fun," she said, "but it's not my scene."

Vice Mayor Gary Plass said he wanted to make clear that no one was disparaging those two pubs, both of which "have been here for years.," he said.

"I've seen a lot of you over at John & Zeke's," Plass joked with the audience. "I think there's room in this town for everyone."

A city staff report presented by Healdsburg Senior Planner Lynn Goldberg also recommended approval. She laid out a spreadsheet showing clear differences between a wine bar and a tasting room.

"Tasting rooms primarily serve tourists," she said. "They stand at a bar and they take samples of wine that are made by the winery that runs the tasting room." Tasting rooms also generally are not open after hours, she said.

By contrast, a wine bar is geared to both locals and tourists and provides a sit-down area where patrons are served wine and food. Wine bars such as Bergamot Alley are open after hours.

"It sounds funny to say this in Healdsburg, but, speaking for the local service community, there's really not a place for us to get a drink when we get off work at 11 p.m. or 12 a.m.," said restaurant owner Ari Rosen. "We're kind of over the age where we would go to a beer joint."

Wardell told council he would offer patrons preserved meats and vegetables and other prepared food from local restaurants -- such as "Scopa, Zazu or Fatted Calf," instead of traditional bar snacks or "cheese plates and salted almonds."

He also plans to focus on unique European wines "that you can't find anywhere near here except maybe in San Francisco," he said.

In addition to the wine bar, Bergamot Alley will have a retail wine section and a storage area for handling online orders, he said.