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Though motorists, cyclists and other passersby wouldn’t know it when driving by 555 Portola Road in Portola Valley, behind the trees just west of the pasture are regimented rows of grapes, part of the Spring Ridge winery.

The pasture, which is popular with deer and offers an uninterrupted view of the western hills, is considered to be within the town’s scenic corridor and is now the site of a proposed residential expansion that could include a barn as one of five new buildings spread throughout the 229-acre site, including on the hillside, according to a Nov. 19 report to the town’s Architecture and Site Control Commission (ASCC) and conversations with planning staff.

The property owners, according to the report, are proposing to add 23,000 square feet of floor area that would include a greenhouse, a entertainment/cabana building, a guest house/art studio, and an “agricultural building.”

Go to tinyurl.com/PVwinery to view the staff report. Turn to Page 4.

The ASCC is holding an on-site public meeting today, Monday, Nov. 23, at 4 p.m. Attendees should park in the lot at the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve next door.

The review will continue later tonight at the ASCC’s regular Monday meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Historic Schoolhouse at 765 Portola Road.

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1 Comment

  1. I hope this isn’t approved. It would be awful if PV became part of the wine tourism scene. Ugh. We have enough trouble already with the bike tourism. The entertainment cabana is a particularly horrid concept. I expect they’ll say that it’s not intended for public group use, but it’s the camel’s nose poking into the tent.

    Can PV or POST buy a conservation easement to keep the total square footage of buildings on that parcel to a very low density? It’s a beautiful piece of property and it would be awful to see it Napa-ised.

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