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Hunterdon County Agriculture Development Board Meeting Special Meeting October 29, 2020 @ 7:00 pm 314 Route 12 County Complex Building #1 | Assembly Room Flemington, New Jersey Members in Attendance: CADB Staff Present: Dave Bond-Chair Shana Taylor, Esq. County Counsel Bob Hoffman-Vice Chair Aaron Culton, Esq., Asst County Counsel Susan Blew Bob Hornby, CADB Administrator Ted Harwick David Kyle Forest Locandro Gerry Lyness Liz Schmid – Via Phone John Perehinys Megan Muehlbauer This meeting is being held indoor at the regular advertised time and location. Masks are mandatory according to County and State COVID-19 policy. There is an option of attending telephonically at (877) 658-5107. When prompted for a passcode, enter 444103 then press #. Out of consideration for others, please mute your phone unless you are speaking. Please contact Bob Hornby at [email protected] or (908) 788-1490 with any questions or concerns Open Public Meeting Act: Chairman Dave Bond opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. and read the Open Public Meeting Act: "This meeting is being held in accordance with the provisions of the Open Public Meeting Act. Adequate notice has been provided by prominently posting and maintaining so posted throughout the year on the first floor of the County Administration Building, Main St., Flemington, New Jersey a public place reserved for such announcements, and by mailing on or before January 16, 2020, to The Hunterdon Democrat, Star Ledger, The Trenton Times, The Courier News and The Express Times newspapers, and TAP Into it newspaper and designated by the Hunterdon County Agriculture Development Board to receive such notices, and by filing with the Hunterdon County Clerk a schedule of the times and dates of such meetings." Pledge of Allegiance: Roll Call: Absent – Marc Phillips; Forest Locandro arrived at 7:10 pm, John Perehinys arrived at 7:30 pm. Right To Farm Matters: • SSAMP Hearing - o Beneduce Vineyards (Alexandria Block 21 Lot 41.31) – County Counsel, Shana Taylor asked the board for a MOTION to re-open the Right to Farm SSAMP hearing. She reminded the board that at a prior meeting the board re-certified Beneduce as a commercial farm. Bob Hoffman made a MOTION to re-open the hearing, Liz Schmid SECONDED. Shana call for a roll call vote 1 | Page ROLL CALL MOVED SECONDED AYES NAYS ABSTAIN ABSENT Dave Bond, Chair X Robert Hoffman X X Jr., Vice Chair Susan Blew X Marc Phillips X John Perehinys X Gerry Lyness X Dave Kyle X Liz Schmid X X Ted Harwick X Forest Locandro X 7 IN FAVOR, NONE OPPOSED o Shana turned the hearing over to Assistant County Counsel Aaron Culton to lay the ground rules for the hearing. Aaron stated that the hearing has been properly noticed by the attorney for the applicant. There is a large crowd present. The board previously determined that Beneduce Vineyards is a Commercial Farm and has the right to bring a Site-Specific Agricultural Management Practice (SSAMP) application before the board. Aaron requested that callers please keep the chatter to a minimum. The hearing is being recorded and may be transcribed; it will be very difficult to hear if there are people talking over each other. The applicant will present their testimony first. Counsel for Alexandria Twp. will present her testimony at a later date. Aaron turned the hearing over to Nicole Voigt to commence with the application before the board and to explain to the board the relief the applicant is seeking under the Right to Farm. Bob stated that Forest Locandro is now present. o Nicole Voigt introduced herself as the attorney for Beneduce Vineyards. She stated that Beneduce Vineyards is located at 1 Jeremiah Lane Pittstown, NJ, in Alexandria Twp. Block 21 Lot 41.31. It is in the Airport Business and Agricultural Residential zone and is not a Preserved Farm. They have 51 acres; 2 acres are dedicated to a farmhouse. On the remaining acres they grow grapes for wine. They engage in Agritourism, they manufacture, bottle and sell their wine on site. Their activities occur under the On Farm Direct Marketing Agricultural Management Practice (OFDMAMP) they include marketing, events and activities. They are here tonight for Use Approval and Site Approval. Use Approval is for the right to continue with their events and activities. Site Specific Approval requests the site plan be approved pursuant to the right of this board to take jurisdiction over the site plan under the On Farm Direct Marketing Agricultural Management Practice. They re- noticed the meeting in September to reflect they added the request for relief of approval of the site plan. The public was advised they could review the application and exhibits. o Beneduce Vineyards sells wine directly to its consumers thru marketing, events, and activities, these include; Wine Tastings, consumers purchasing wine, enjoying on the farm, picnic or prepared meal, tours, and “Group Therapy” which is music night. Also has wine tastings at the wine bar that can be at an open hour or a public event. Beneduce has invested in this facility to host events and activities under the protection of the On Farm Direct 2 | Page Marketing Agricultural Management Practice. Beneduce has been very careful not to deviate from the OFDMAMP standards. For years those standards have been the vineyards planning goalposts. o In May of 2019 they received a letter from Alexandria Township advising them they have received a complaint(s) about noise, hosting weddings, not complying with use variance, and offered the option come before the CADB for a SSAMP. Beneduce made this application in May of 2019. Beneduce is seeking approval for amplified music nights, they are permissible as per the OFDMAMP and whether the cover charge meets the definition of proportionality test relative to the sale of wine. They were asked to confirm the presence of Catering or Food trucks, there is usually 1 food truck on site, is this permissible under the OFDMAMP or does it require a use variance? After they submitted the application, they sat down with the township many times. All on the record supplied to the board. Township asked questions about a site plan. Mr. Beneduce offered to pay for the township engineer and planner to come to the site and review it. This occurred in October of 2019. Mr. Beneduce has retained and will provide expert testimony from his Planner, Traffic Engineer, Noise Engineer & Site Plan Engineer. The reports were submitted to the township. The Township sent reports back, issues still remain. In their opinion, the township far exceeds the jurisdiction of any township under the Right to Farm Act. They have determined that to forward a Site Plan to the Township is be unproductive, they feel the township has continued to seek new ways to curtail activity on the farm. She is asking the board to approve the Site Plan under the OFDMAMP. o Mr. Beneduce will describe events and activities. When Mr. Beneduce received the letter from the Township, he discontinued weddings. Weddings were a minor part of the activities. There is a Special Events consideration for the board to consider. People are allowed to come to the farm, bring their own food, buy and drink wine. Go on a tour. People might show up when it’s someone’s birthday, anniversary, etc., and bring their own food and balloons. Is that considered a Special Event? There is no additional revenue going to the vineyard. They are asking for approval of Public events, private events, including Music nights. Asking for approval of the food truck that will be there to offer people food on music nights. Asking for approval of the Site Plan. Which falls under the jurisdiction of OFDMAMP. o Nicole called Michael Beneduce to the stand; he was sworn in by Aaron Culton. Mr. Beneduce introduced himself and stated he is a winemaker and co-owner of the vineyard. He gave background information as to his family and how they came to Alexandria Twp. Father owns and operates a Garden Center in Morris County, needed room to expand the operation and found the property in Alexandria Twp. 2000, built greenhouses on an acre of the property, still in use. Needed to find something else to do with the property for income, decided on starting a vineyard. Went to Cornell University, started planting the vineyard in 2009 had their first harvest in 2011. Opened up in 2012. The farm started out large, through the years it went down to 51 acres. They are not a “For Show” winery, those are wineries that grow a minimum of 3 acres and then put a large catering hall on the property. They have 22 acres of grapes; they have been consistently adding more acres of grapes every year. They are now at the limit of what they can grow. For the last three years 83% of the gross revenue is directly from the sale of wine. All other activities account for less than 15% of the gross revenue. Use 95% state grown grapes to make their wine. His opinion is that if the township doesn’t allow the kind of business that he has, they are going to lose farmers and the land that goes with it. Thanked the board for attending the hearing, knows they are all volunteers. Is more than willing to answer any questions. 3 | Page o Ms. Voigt asked Mr. Beneduce how may verities of grapes he grows? 10. All wine is produced on site? Yes. And bottled? Yes. What type of license does he have? He holds a winery license, 22 acres of grapes, last year bottled 13 different varieties of wine.

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