VINEYARD AGREES TO CONCESSIONS.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

AGUA DULCE - Owners of the troubled Agua Dulce Vineyards agreed Tuesday to concessions, including replacing the general manager and initiating a water supply survey, as part of ongoing attempts to reopen the business.

Agua Dulce Vineyards was shut down by the county April 14 after nearby residents of Sierra Colony Ranch complained that the 90-acre business had failed to address zoning violations while waiting for the county to approve a conditional use permit.

Tuesday afternoon, in a meeting with Sierra Colony residents and representatives of county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, vineyard officials announced the replacement of General Manager Don MacAdam in hopes of improving bitter relations with the nearby community.

``The change in management is a huge first step,'' said Chuck Chastain, the new general manager. ``It's a big step because of the relationship between MacAdam and some of the community members.''

Several Sierra Colony residents have filed suit against the vineyard developers - who also developed their million-dollar Sierra Colony tract homes - alleging that vineyard owners Don and Cathy MacAdam, Ray Watt and Werbco Construction Corp. rigged illegal water pipes to irrigate the vineyard, leaving residents' taps dry.

``(The developers) cheated us out of a well,'' said Deborah Laube, whose family was the first to buy property in the 60-home Sierra Colony development about 10 years ago.

Also Tuesday, in an effort to appease residents, Chastain committed to conduct a water survey of the area to prove that the property has enough water to sustain Sierra Colony and the water-guzzling vineyard.

``Our engineers and geologists are conducting studies that will address the quality of water and the water supply,'' Chastain said.

The results of the water survey will be available in about two weeks.

The goal of Tuesday's county-sponsored meeting was to help the vineyard and Sierra Colony residents ``find some common ground'' so the vineyard can maintain its operations while the county reviews the conditional use permit, said John Calas, a county land regulation administrator.

Currently, the vineyard is closed to tourists and banned from selling wine, Calas said.

Manny Fernandez, president of the Sierra Colony community water board, was pleased with the meeting, but said vineyard officials need to do more to prove their commitment to the community.

``We want to see a real desist - we don't know if this is an empty announcement, but we're optimistic for what they have said,'' Fernandez said. ``We are happy because we are letting them know what the problems are and they are trying to deal with those problems, and that's the way it should be.''

Despite the progress, Calas said it will be at least six months before the vineyard reopens, and that's just the first hurdle.

The vineyard still faces the residents' lawsuit, and an impending lawsuit by the community water board, Fernandez said.

``Nobody walked out of there a winner, although we did agree to meet again,'' Calas said.

A time and date for the next meeting has not yet been set, but it should come next week.

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Photo:

A lone worker weeds the barren vineyards Wednesday at the Agua Dulce Winery, the day its owners agreed to concessions.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer