Council mulls over winery licensing

A local man who's been cultivating an ever-growing vineyard near his South Main Street home is looking into purveying his wines, instituting a local winery; one of the hurdles he faced was that the city of Nevada had no licensing provisions in place for such a venture.

City Manager JD Kehrman said Tuesday at a regular city council meeting that the man has no plans to allow any drinking of the wine on site, except for occasional tastings, so the new ordinance outlining the rules that will apply to a license for manufacturing wine or brandy specify that although "no consumption on premises will be permitted where prohibited by zoning ordinances of the city of Nevada" -- it's prohibited in close proximity to R-1 zoning -- but "consumption" under this specific ruling won't apply to tastings, so long as less than 1/2 ounce is served.

Council members offered no discussion about the ordinance, and passed the licening measure with a 5-0 vote.

The new ordinance does not grant a license to the prospective winery; but simply creates the licensing mechanism and sets the fee at that authorized by the state -- 1.5 times the charge made by the state. That figure was not available at press time Tuesday.

In other business, the city council gave its final, unanimous approval to changes in fees at Frank E. Peters Municipal Golf Course, Twin Lakes Sports Complex, the Franklin P. Norman City/County Community Center, Walton Aquatic Center and parks shelter houses.

Although she voted in approval of the rate changes, council member Jayne Novak asked for additional information, to be provided by city staff later, about how tournaments are handled at the golf course; and in terms of the community center, expressed a opinion that not charging for tournaments at that facility could pay off in concession revenue. Tournament fees are not specifically addressed in the fee changes approved Tuesday.

The council also gave its unanimous approval to the city's 2013 budget.