California Vineyard Owner Fined $120,000 For Providing Free Housing To Employee

A California vineyard owner is suing Santa Clara County after officials fined him for allowing his longtime employee to live in an RV on his property for years, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Michael Ballard, whose family owns Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards in a town south of San Francisco, alleges he was fined a total of more than $120,000 after the county said he violated local zoning laws that prohibit anyone from living in an RV on public or private property. I Photo: Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards

Michael Ballard, whose family owns Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards in a town south of San Francisco, alleges he was fined a total of more than $120,000 after the county said he violated local zoning laws that prohibit anyone from living in an RV on public or private property, according to The Mercury News.

Marcelino Martinez, manager of the vineyard, which spans around 2.6 million square feet (243,000 square meters), said his family lost their lease on a trailer they were living in years ago and had limited options for affordable housing in the area.

The Ballard family agreed to allow them to live in an RV at the vineyard. Martinez, his wife, and children have lived there for free since 2013, according to The Mercury News.

“I couldn’t make a family homeless for arbitrary reasons,” Ballard told the newspaper. “The human impact exceeded any damage or nuisance that their continued living in the trailer was going to create.”

However, in July 2019, the county began fining the Ballards $1,000 daily for the RV, then lowered the penalty to $250 a day, the vineyard owner said.