Bedminster Township supervisors have approved the addition of a limited agritourism use for Aviator Vineyard & Winery on Elephant Road, which is owned by AGA Farms LLC, and operates under a winery/brewery/distillery use. The action was taken at the Dec. 13 board of supervisors meeting, following a conditional use hearing in November.
Under the approval, the new agritourism use allows the business to add a tasting room on the 52-acre property. Any other new agritourism activity would be subject to separate conditional use approval.
The new approval does not apply to the pumpkin picking and Christmas tree farm activities that were already underway at the time the added conditional use application was filed.
Among a variety of particular requirements noted by supervisors in the approval motion, the applicant is also to “comply with and fulfill recommendation and comments” detailed in an October letter from township engineer Wynn Associates, of Quakertown.
These combined concerns feature documentation from the county or state confirming the adequacy of on-lot sewage disposal facilities; confirmation from the state regarding the adequacy of an existing driveway from Elephant Road, which is a state thoroughfare; and stabilizing the lawn conditions of parking areas, “so that no mud is tracked onto public roadways.”
Any impervious resurfacing of the parking area is subject to the township’s stormwater management ordinance. Meanwhile, the applicant is to “regularly maintain the frontage of the property, in particular the areas around the parked/stored farm equipment and implements.”
Restrictions per the conservation easement on the property also apply, while the applicant is to attend to a new easement to allow for the use of the property’s drag strip/runway for overflow parking. (The property is also a registered FAA airport.)
In addition, the applicant must “protect the surrounding neighborhood from (any) negative impacts, including, but not limited to, noise, glare, dust, and odors.”
During the conditional use hearing, the applicant noted it is no longer holding the car show that it put on for about 20 years.
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