Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Mike Callagy, County Executive
Subject: Consent to Establish Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Improvement District
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution granting conditional consent to the County of Santa Cruz to establish the Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Improvement District and include portions of the unincorporated areas of the County of San Mateo in the District, contingent on the proposed District boundaries being revised consistent with San Mateo County's direction.
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BACKGROUND:
A. Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Improvement District
The Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association (SCMWA) successfully petitioned Santa Cruz County to form the Mountains Wine Improvement District (SCMWID), a benefit assessment district designed to create a revenue source to help fund marketing and brand awareness and business improvement efforts for wineries located in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The SCMWID would include wineries within portions of the unincorporated areas of San Mateo County, Santa Cruz County, and Santa Clara County, as well as within the incorporated cities/towns of Santa Cruz, Saratoga, Scotts Valley, Capitola, Watsonville, Los Gatos, Portola Valley, and Woodside ("SCMWID Jurisdictions"). A map depicting the current proposed boundaries of the SCMWID is included as Attachment 1.
Wine Improvement Districts have been created successfully in other wine regions to increase sales revenue among participating wineries. It is anticipated that, if established, the SCMWID would generate approximately $575,000 annually from a form of gross receipts assessment on covered wine businesses which would be available for promotional activities for the wineries in the SCMWID.
Santa Cruz County cannot form the SCMWID to include within the territory of another jurisdiction without consent of that jurisdiction's governing body. Thus, Santa Cruz County ini...
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