Hello everyone,my name is Jim Rende, I'm an architect with Cooper Kessel Architect and Associates. I have been handling the conditional use permit for the owners of the Cedar Ridge Apple Ranch and would like provide some information that might help clarify some things.
We are requesting to amendment to an existing Land Management Plan to add limited food service which is directly related to the on site agriculture. No less than 50% of the items on the menu will be created from produce grown on site. The food service area would be located in one of the approved buildings under the existing Land Management Plan.
The approved use of the building that would house the food service area provides space for mashing raw apples, fermenting, long term barrel storage, distilling of hard cider, finishing and bottling, offices, a lab, sampling and retail space. The food service area would occupy between 15% and 20% of this total building area.
The owners are creating a building that will be an example of how buildings of the future should be designed to conserve our precious resources, not only in Tuolumne County but the entire country.
It is the owner?s desire that this building be an example of how to conserve water, utilize solar energy to conserve fossil fuels, capitalize on the naturally cool state of the ground for energy- efficient cooling and capture the sun?s light to eliminate the need for artificial lighting during the day.
The critical purpose of the food service component on site is to allow the public to make a direct connection between the taste, flavor and options of various organically grown products that they will be able to see first hand on site. This will allow them to better understand the value of organic farming and the health benefits. An off site food service facility will never be able to have the impact of eating a product only feet away from where you just learned how carefully it was grown, harvested and prepared for you with the maximum health benefits in mind.
This facility will be open to the public. Tours of the facilities will be available, there will be approximately 2 miles of hiking trails through natural on site wooded areas, there will be an interpretive center in the lobby area of the building to help educate the public about the environment and organic farming, there will be a retail space for the sale of site grown produce.
We are providing parking for 104 cars (one space is a loading area). The number of parking spaces shown was based on the Tuolumne County Ordinance Code Parking Requirements for a building which would have agricultural processing on the lower level and employee locker rooms, restrooms, offices, cider distilling, blending and bottling, tasting, an interpretive center and, if approved, a food service area on the upper level. This parking will accommodate staff and visitors. The public would be coming to tour the apple ranch processing facilities to learn about the built and natural environment and hike on the trails.
If the food service area is not approved, the parking could be reduced by about 20 spaces. The balance of the parking would be for the existing approved uses of the building.
To clarify some miss information that is out there, no live entertainment is being proposed or planned. No live music is being proposed or planned. No sale of wine, beer or liquor is being proposed with the food service area. Hard cider sampling is part of the approved Land Management Plan and a separate room for this will be included in the building under the approved Land Management Plan.
It is the owners intention to improve the environment, set an example for businesses to follow, and to provide healthier produce for the consumers in Tuolumne County. This is all being done through agriculture and it is the desire of all concerned in the development of this project to promote agriculture for Tuolumne County through education involving the complete earth to body cycle of produce which food service is an integral part of.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The owners have lived in Cedar Ridge for over 30 years and have known Henry Abbott personally for that entire time. It is the owners desire to see Henry?s visions for the apple ranch come true and add their own sensitive concerns for the environment to that vision. The apples grown on this site will be organically grown. The owners raised their family in Cedar Ridge and now want to "give back" and offer similar advantages to their grandchildren. They see Cedar Ridge as a place that offers a healthier lifestyle than any other part of California and they want everyone there to be able to benefit from it.
This property is zoned AP (Agricultural Preserve). The following is from the County Ordinance, Chapter 17.5.1, Agricultural Preserve Combining District, or (:AP) District.
?Purpose. The county seeks to promote agricultural productivity and the preservation and protection of agricultural or open space values from encroaching development and at the same time prevent inclusion of land in agricultural preserves that is not suitable for future use in the production of food, fiber, forage and livestock or wildlife habitat.?
I hope you find this information valuable and we will continue to watch this site so we can address your concerns. Thank you.
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Proposed Development of the Cedar Ridge Apple Ranch
That sounds outrageous on its face. Doing the math, it sounds like parking for eighty-four vehicles, employees, visitors and hikers. Twenty more if they sell food and cider on-site.We are providing parking for 104 cars (one space is a loading area). The number of parking spaces shown was based on the Tuolumne County Ordinance Code Parking Requirements for a building which would have agricultural processing on the lower level and employee locker rooms, restrooms, offices, cider distilling, blending and bottling, tasting, an interpretive center and, if approved, a food service area on the upper level. This parking will accommodate staff and visitors. The public would be coming to tour the apple ranch processing facilities to learn about the built and natural environment and hike on the trails.
If the food service area is not approved, the parking could be reduced by about 20 spaces. The balance of the parking would be for the existing approved uses of the building.
Maybe you could break this down a little further.
This operation is either much larger than the picture you've painted or there's some mis-understanding in your explanation.
I'm in the middle of a church design in Sonora where there are 300 parishoners, about 10,000 square feet of structure and the county is requiring 75 parking spaces... maybe that's an apples and oranges comparison, but surely, you haven't painted a picture of a site having hundreds of visitors.
It just sounds like it will have a much larger impact on the area than the picture being painted, based on the parking requirements... which to me, at least, is a hard numbers indicator of the size and scope of this project.
apple ranch
what happened to the apple ranch and the county , no one ever wrote back and said ... they must have turned it down since ??no
what happened ??
Is there a latest status on this project ?? Im sure the other people around want to know too.. I looked all over the web and could find nothing ...
thanks in advance . sq
thanks in advance . sq