Town Board Considering Changes to Wine Tasting Room Building Codes

The Town Board is considering changes to the town’s zoning codes to tighten restrictions that apply to accessory business uses within the rural corridor zoning district, which includes Route 25, as well as in areas zoned as hamlet centers and village centers.

A discussion at Thursday’s work session was prompted by a decision last month by the Zoning Board of Appeals to allow the owner of an antique shop planned for Route 25 in Aquebogue to also have an adjacent building on the property for wine-tasting.

Though no decisions were made, the Town Board's discussion seemed headed in the direction of mandating that wine-tasting rooms be accessory uses only to agricultural production. In other words, to open a wine-tasting room, an owner would have to operate a local vineyard.

Under current codes, Councilman George Gabrielsen suggested that a wine maker in California with no local grape growing could conceivably be permitted to open a tasting room in town.

The Long Island Wine Council could not be reached for comment.