Hilltop Ranch sues Monterey County in ongoing quest to hold events at Carmel Valley vineyard.

There’s a steep and narrow private road that leads from Carmel Valley Road to Cima Collina Winery’s Hilltop Ranch location. The company that owns the vineyard, Hilltop Ranch and Vineyard, LLC, has pursued a similarly steep climb since 2013, trying to secure permission to hold events at the vineyard. Instead of reaching the top, however, it’s landed in Monterey County Superior Court, where Hilltop’s owners are suing the county. Meanwhile, neighboring property owners and the Carmel Valley Association, through attorneys, are crying foul over a county process they say gave winery owners an unfair advantage.

It started several years ago, as Hilltop unsuccessfully pursued permits to hold large-scale events on the property in 2013 and 2014. In the meantime, attorneys for neighbors and the CVA say in court documents the winery held events anyway, including weddings and publicly advertised dinners and concerts. The county opened a case in 2015 investigating commercial activities taking place without a permit in a residential neighborhood. Tony Lombardo, the attorney representing several homeowners near the vineyard, says one resident told him he never thought he’d have to listen to “Proud Mary” over and over when he bought his home in the rural neighborhood.

Besides noise, Lombardo says neighbors are also concerned about the roadway: “It’s a one-way road on a steep hill. If something happens at one of these big events, how does an ambulance get there? How does a fire truck get there?”

In 2016, Hilltop took a different approach. The owners requested a decision from Monterey County Resource Management Agency Director Carl Holm. In a letter dated April 11, 2017, Holm granted Hilltop’s request for daily events of up to 75 guests, not to include employees or event staff.

“The letter is remarkably absent of facts, analysis and discussion of authority,” a CVA appeal reads. It also claims that the letter circumvented the public process because it was not made available to the public, and was only distributed to the applicant – Hilltop. Lombardo believes it was an approach meant to keep the public out of the process. Neighbors only learned of the letter weeks later, accidentally.

The neighbors appealed Holm’s decision in May, and both the county Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors sided with the neighbors in overturning it. Hilltop responded by suing the county in December. One focus of its claim: that Holm’s decision stated the appeal period was 10 days, which no one did. Opponents say there was no way to meet that time line and appeal a decision they didn’t even know about, and claim the 10-day window was only meant for Hilltop.

“It corrupts the public process,” CVA’s appeal says of Holm’s decision. “If allowed to stand, the Holm Letter will cause serious long-term land-use and environmental effects and will harm the public’s trust in Monterey County government.”

Hilltop’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment; County Counsel Charles McKee declined to comment. The county is trying to get Hilltop’s suit thrown out; a hearing is scheduled for May 30.