Code Violators
The wine industry is thriving in Woodinville, with more than 130 wineries and tasting rooms in operation. The vast majority are operating legally according to Washington State and King County regulations. Only a handful have been cited for various code violations and are illegally operating wine bars and event centers in the Rural Area.
Let's call these violators what they are - bars. There is no wine production happening on-site. These are not 'tasting rooms' in the romanticized sense, with the proprietor in grape-stained overalls offering samples of the latest harvest maturing in barrels in the backroom. These businesses can serve wine onsite by the glass and bottle, provide live music and dancing, and bring in food trucks or catered food. And what is an 'event center' but a bar that's closed for a private event?
Click here for a map of the Code Violators, showing their locations in the Sammamish Valley Rural Area and APD farmland.
1. Property Owners: Cliff & Diane Otis (with operating help from Bryan and Jeff Otis)
16116 140th PL NE Woodinville, parcel # 152605-9092
Usage: Matthews wine bar, event center and guest house, also owned by the Otis family. Matthews moved their wine production to Walla Walla years ago.
2. Property Owner: TM Squared LLC (Michael Tenhulzen)
14701 148th Ave NE, Woodinville, parcel # 152605-9051
Usage: Tenhulzen Residential Design/Build Remodeling company is operating offices from the Rural Area property. King County required them to shutter the offices by May 31, 2022. Tenhulzen appealed to the Hearing Examiner and the hearing examiner ruled against Tenhulzen and required them to shutter the office. Since then, Tenhulzen has built a small hotel on the property and continue to operate the Remodeling company from the same building. They claim it is home occupation for both businesses, although they do not live on the property.
3. Property Owners: Stephen & Sherri Lee
14366 Woodinville-Redmond Rd NE, Redmond, parcel # 340470-0027
Tenant: Cougar Crest wine bar (in the small roundabout cluster south of the main Hollywood Hill roundabout). Wine production is in Walla Walla. Cougar Crest rents this location.
4. Property Owner: Larry & Jane Scrivanich
14356 Woodinville-Redmond Rd NE, Redmond, parcel # 340470-0026
Tenant: Cave B wine bar (small southern roundabout cluster). Wine production is in George, WA. Cave B rents this location.
5. Property Owner: Greg Lill, Cedar Pond 14208 LLC
14208 Woodinville-Redmond Rd NE, Redmond, parcel # 340470-0060
Tenant: Chateau Lill. Greg Lill stopped making wine here for his DeLille Cellars winery many years ago. Wine production was elsewhere in Washington State and all DeLille Cellars winery operations have moved to the former Redhook Brewery property in the City of Woodinville Tourist District. Greg and Stacy Lill are now running an event center out of the home and as an article in the Puget Sound Business Journal noted, “The couple plans to expand Chateau Lill’s events beyond weddings - every Saturday in 2019 is already booked - to outdoor movie nights with food trucks, corporate retreats and pop-up wine tastings.” The Lill’s also have a new “winery” registered with the state at this.
6. Property Owner: StefkaGocheva and In Light LLC
16725 140th Pl NE, Woodinville, parcel # 102605-9031
Tenant: Vladan Milosavljevic is operating Three Monks Distilled Spirits and Chateau Ste Vladany Wines from this location.
many legal options are available
It's not the case that these code violators have nowhere to go. The City of Woodinville, as well as other nearby cities, have plenty of retail and commercial space available, with sewer hookup and other infrastructure in the properly zoned Urban Area. Approximately 170,000 sq ft of new space is available just north of Chateau Ste Michelle on Hwy 202 where a number of beverage businesses are already located. An additional tens of thousands of square feet of new retail space is in the works in the Central Business District, and numerous existing properties are available for rent or purchase.
Driving some of this expansion into the RA and A lands is the desire for less expensive operating costs. Since they do not have to pay for the commercial infrastructure (e.g. sewer hookup, lighting, sidewalks) and permitting required for businesses that operate in commercial zones, they have an unfair advantage over their legally operating competitors.
Friends of Sammamish Valley is supportive of the wine tourism industry. We believe that the handful of illegally operating bars and event centers in the Rural Area should move into the nearby Urban Area - joining the vast majority of tasting rooms, bars and event centers already operating there legally.
Drive-up retail businesses need the infrastructure that already exists in the Urban Area such as sewer hookup, parking, sidewalks, lighting, and better ingress/egress from access roads. Operating in the Urban Area will help solve infrastructure problems while also enabling these businesses to have longer hours and more customers without the negative side effects of traffic, parking lots, noise, and visual pollution that deeply affect the rural neighborhoods and farm businesses. These negative side effects are additionally counterproductive to the local wine industry itself which in fact relies on the visible presence of open lands and agriculture and the bucolic nature of the Sammamish Valley to draw in tourists from around the Puget Sound.