FBI probe exposes Napa Valley turf war
Miles Dillworth • Daily Mail
“…David and Kathleen DiCesaris spent several years and $2million on clearing a stringent environmental check, known as an erosion control plan (ECP), for their project to clear about 30 acres to build a new vineyard in Howell Mountain.
Napa County approved the development in March last year, but the decision was appealed by the Center for Biological Diversity, who argued it was a threat to wildlife and biodiversity.
In August, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to uphold the appeal, the first time it had vetoed a project that had an approved ECP. There have been 673.
Pedroza was one of the two dissenting votes, while Ryan Klobas and the Farm Bureau accused the three other supervisors of failing to understand agriculture.
In the wake of the vote, signs appeared at some locations accusing those supervisors of being anti-farming and, in at least one case, corrupt.
David DiCesaris told DailyMail.com that he had been caught in the midst of a 'political firestorm' and that the decision marked a 'turning of the tide' against Napa wineries.
He claimed he had been 'personally attacked' over the project, with threatening notes slipped under his doorstep telling him, in no uncertain terms, that he and his vineyard were not welcome.
When he tried to explain the fire mitigation benefits of his proposed winery, he says a neighbor told him: 'I would rather see your property burn than see a vineyard on it.'
Some eco-extremists even drove around his property on a dirt bike, churning up his turf, he alleged.
'It was all kinds of nasty stuff,' he said. 'All I wanted to do was put a vineyard on agricultural land.
'Me and my wife have been here for 30 years. The Napa Valley we know is a kinder, gentler place.'“