Granby Zoning Board Rules Wine House Farm Agricultural, Site Review Still Required

GRANBY — November 10, 2025 — Granby's Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously ruled a 15-acre East Street property is primarily agricultural and its tasting room accessory to that use, but fell short of the supermajority needed to lift a Planning Board site plan review requirement for Wine House at 16 East Street. The board voted 3-2 on the site plan question — one vote short of the four needed — leaving the requirement from Building Commissioner Tom Quinland's May 31, 2025 missing information letter in place. The unanimous agricultural findings effectively nullified a 2010 special permit condition barring business or industry in the building now used as a tasting room, with Town Counsel advising that the Dover Amendment supersedes the restriction. Attorney Peter Journy, representing the property owner, argued that roughly 85 percent of gross annual tasting room sales are wine, making the space the agricultural operation's point of sale; opposing Attorney John McGlaughlin countered that on-site grapes account for only about 6.5 percent of wine by volume — well below the 25 percent threshold in Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 48, Section 3. The applicant now has 14 days, extended by agreement, to receive a written decision and must then choose between appealing the site plan requirement to court or going before the Planning Board.