Planning

Interest has grown within the Community to allow for crop cultivation of wine grapes throughout the City, with some small-scale vineyards that have been recently planted. In addition, the City is home to two-locally based wineries, which currently import grapes from other wine regions, and features another winery directly outside of the City limits. On July 9, 2018, the City Council awarded a $5,000 Community Activity Grant to support the efforts of the Yucaipa Valley Wine Alliance (YVWA) for their petition to the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) to establish the City of Yucaipa and surrounding areas as an American Viticultural Area (AVA). This forward momentum suggests that other opportunities for additional wine making efforts will occur in the future, especially once the AVA designation is finally approved by the TTB.

Winemaking presents several different elements from a land use perspective that are not currently addressed by the City’s Development Code; including the establishment of a winery and associated accessory uses, including but not limited to licensed and bonded manufacturing facilities, public tasting rooms, and the land use compatibility of a vineyard adjacent to existing uses. This industry is currently impeded by the lack of agriculturally zoned land; most wine regions in California were created within lands that are zoned for agriculture and that have been historically developed for vineyards. The majority of the undeveloped land within the City, such as the North Bench, is currently zoned for residential uses, and not only are they zoned as residential, much of the area has approved residential projects and the land use rights that are granted as a result. As such, the potential for the loss of available housing sites, coupled with the City’s need to continue to have sites available for development that can meet the state-requirement for housing production and the ‘no net loss’ provisions, must be a factor in the land use review.

An undertaking as substantial as the implementation of an AVA should include input from a broad coalition of community members and stakeholders. To support this input, the City Council established the AVA Planning Committee (AVAPC) to help work through the various issues and different ideas from these stakeholders. The AVAPC is comprised of the following:

Two (2) City Council members
Two (2) representatives from the Planning Commission
One (1) representative from the Trails and Open Space Committee
One (1) representative from the Economic Development Advisory Committee
One (1) representative from the Yucaipa Valley Wine Alliance
One (1) North bench property owner (15 acres minimum land area)
Three (3) members of the public at large

To help better understand the best approach to use for the City, a two-phased approach was implemented with Phase I being the research and initial outreach phase, and where Phase II would be development of the actual tool. The AVAPC is now known as the Yucaipa Valley Wine County Planning Committee, and information on their meetings is available here: https://yucaipa.org/agendas-minutes/

Chapter 1 (Introduction) and 2 (Context & Existing Conditions) 

Chapter 3 (The Plan) 

Chapter 4 (Development Standards) 

Chapter 5 (Design)

Chapter 6 (Administration and Implementation) 

On September 12, 2019, the City Council approved a Professional Services Agreement with PlaceWorks, a planning consultant firm, to provide professional services for the Phase I part of the process. Over the past year, the AVAPC has been exploring both planning and incentive-based options to help support the potential of an emerging wine industry within the community. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, public engagement was conducted to solicit feedback on developing the appropriate “Yucaipa Style” and ultimately, the outreach completed during Phase I included one field workshop in Temecula, over 8 public meetings and 14 stakeholder interviews. Phase I also included the preparation of various case studies that were considered by the AVAPC and public as Yucaipa developed its own AVA identity.

Through the research efforts as well as community and stakeholder input, the Phase I report was prepared and presented to City Council. Based on the existing conditions in the City, three alternatives to support a new wine industry were identified and evaluated: Alternative One is a Transfer of Development Rights program, Alternative Two is a master plan approach with a clustered approach to create land specific for vineyards and wineries, and Alternative Three is permitting commercial uses in the residential district. At the regular City Council Meeting of January 25, 2021, the City Council directed staff to proceed with Alternative Two as the approach to be used for Phase II, and to have staff prepare a scope of work and contract to begin the development of a Master Plan that would encourage the development of a wine industry.

The City is currently developing the Yucaipa Valley Wine Country Specific Plan that will support future viticulture within the City. The Specific Plan is being developed with input received through the City’s Yucaipa Valley Wine Country Planning Committee, and public feedback is encouraged. If you have additional questions, thoughts or comments, feel free to contact Benjamin Matlock, City Planner, at 909-797-2489 x261. If you would like to be part of a contact list for future updates and/or meetings, please email Ben at bmatlock@yucaipa.org.

As part of the Specific Plan, the City is also preparing a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to the General Plan EIR, which will provide the necessary environmental review for the implementation of the Wine Country. Please visit the YVWCSP Environmental Review page for more details.

To support the AVA implementation, the City has pursued grant funding and was awarded a $250,000 Sustainable Lands Conservation Program (SALC) grant from the State Department of Conservation to support the Phase II project.