Photo courtesy of CZCellars.com. Used with permission.
(SEATTLE) A committee vote later this month could seal the deal on a county-wide ban on some home businesses. It’s happening in King County, which is the state’s largest, and one of the most diverse.
“The county is removing the ability for small, home based businesses to start,” says Scott Greenberg, owner of Convergence Zone Cellars…which is based out of his own home in North Bend.
Fortunately for him, his Convergence Zone Cellars would be grandfathered-in.
“If I wanted to start a winery today out of my garage, with these new rules, I would be unable to do that,” Greenberg says.
And with a name like the “Alcohol Beverage Ordinance,” its clear who King County is targeting with this prohibition on certain home businesses in rural areas. The original ordinance was passed in 2019, but because of how it was written, the state has asked King county TWICE to re-write it. At the time, the entire county was getting a new rule based on one small area where winery development has skyrocketed.
“My understanding is that there were some issues…in the unincorporated areas surrounding the city of Woodinville,” Greenberg tells Northwest Newsradio.
Crowds, traffic, noise, and development have become issues at times for the areas just outside Woodinville. There was even a study specifically targeting the burgeoning tasting room region…a study that didn’t seem to coinsider all the other parts of the county now covered under this ordinance. The group “Friends of the Sammamish Valley” says even worse, farmland was being given-up for commercial purposes. The group’s Serena Glover told the Federal Way Mirror “It’s not really about wineries,” but more about the “commercial development of less expensive rural areas.”
So why would a rule created to keep a small winery-dominated area be expanded to include almost all rural parts of King County? And what does it have to do with home-based producers? Council member Sarah Perry through a spokesperson says she remains deeply committed to protecting agricultural and rural lands.
Perhaps there’s a fear that home-based producers actually do a good job, and want to grow their business?
“I think its a shame that the county is penalizing small businesses like mine,” says Greenberg.
A committee’s confirmation vote April 26th in essence stops new alcohol producers in most rural parts of King County…even those who do business out of their own homes. The timing is interesting, because we’re just exiting a two-year period where a lot of us confined to home began our own home businesses.
“So you’re right, somebody during the pandemic who thought ‘Well i want to start a winery, I’m just going to start doing it from home’ legally could not,” Greenberg says.
