May 01--STOCKTON -- A planned $30 million resort catering to wine country visitors to Lodi lost a vote at the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that could have helped the land chosen for the hotel receive a needed commercial use designation.

Although the AVA resort proposed at Highway 99 and Armstrong Road outside of Lodi didn't get the board's blessing to be included in the next round of the county's years-long process to update its General Plan, even supervisors who voted against it on a split vote said they liked the idea.

Supervisor Steve Bestolarides called it a good project, but good process now means he's voting against it.

"I just think this is way too fast and way too much without process," he said. "I do think that is a great opportunity."

And looking at the specific project right now is like "putting the cart before the horse," he said, using a phrase both proponents and opponents used during hours of testimony at the afternoon meeting.

It was the latest installment of pitches from landowners wishing to change the zoning of their land when the county updates its General Plan -- a blueprint for how the county will grow over the next two decades.

Approved pitches will undergo an environmental review and could be included in the updated General Plan, though changed zoning wouldn't prevent any specific project from going through the normal approval process or further environmental review, officials said. And not getting through to the next stage of the General Plan update doesn't necessarily kill a proposed project, either.

The land-use designation change proposed by Diede Construction Inc. was relatively late to the General Plan process and was submitted after the county Planning Commission vetted other requests last year.

The board voted 3-2 to deny the change in land-use designation. Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller and Board Chairman Ken Vogel joined Bestolarides in voting against the plan, while Supervisors Carlos Villapudua and Bob Elliott voted in favor.

Neighbors who were critical of the resort lined up to say how the resort could bring noise and traffic, might taint the groundwater, could conflict with the area's important agricultural operations and represents the loss of more of a dwindling supply of farmland. They gave impassioned pleas about how growth has already changed their lives and cautioned that the project could lead to more development in an area known for farming.

"Once we cement the farm over, we're never going to see it again," neighbor Dennis Regan said.

But a resort like this would help the Lodi wine region grow, said Nancy Beckman, CEO of Visit Lodi! Conference and Visitors Bureau. "We are a burgeoning wine region," she said. "(But) our tourism is pretty much in its infancy. ... We have to continue to support it with amenities and attractions as we move forward."

Supporters said AVA resort would enjoy the kind of boost seen by Lodi's Wine & Roses Hotel Restaurant Spa.

Russ Munson, owner of Wine & Roses, joined those telling the board of their support.

"And I'll be back to support the cart, once you decide what the horse is doing," he said.

Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or [email protected]. Visit his blog at www.recordnet.com/johnsonblog.

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