Approval Sought For New Winery In Bingham Township

A new winery is winding its way through the approval process in Bingham Township.

Property owners Mark and Donna Farella want to transform their roughly 24-acre parcel along Donner Road just east of 641 into a winery over the next several years, with the goal of opening around 2031 (a delay necessitated by a desire to use their own grapes, which have yet to be planted).

“This winery will stand out with its distinctive approach, as the owners will reside on-site, operations will have limited hours, and the focus will be on offering an exclusive wine club experience,” project representative Nate Elkins wrote to the township.

Township zoning administrator Steve Patmore tells The Ticker the township planning commission is reviewing a special land use permit and could approve it as soon as October.

Bingham Township is flush with wineries (Two K Farms, Shady Lane, Suttons Bay Ciders, Mawby, Big Little, Three Trees and more) and as such, township officials have been down this road many times, Patmore says.

“Bingham has a lot of experience looking at these, and they look at them very seriously,” he says. “Most of the (concern) is always around parking and sound, and that’s where it will be on this. Nobody wants to hear Proud Mary..or the Chicken Dance at 11 o’clock at night in their backyard.”

There has already been a group of neighbors who have expressed concerns about noise and parking, Patmore says.

The proposed winery initially requested up to 12 events per year with up to 150 guests per event, according to documents. Elkins, of Traverse City-based Influence Design Forum, tells The Ticker the requested guest number will likely drop as he and the township continue to discuss acceptable figures.

“We’ve submitted a number of amendments to our original application,” he says. “(The Farellas) really want to be friends with everybody and make sure this works for the community and the residents on Donner Road.”

Patmore is, at the planning commission’s request, compiling a list of what other wineries are approved for in terms of number of events and total guests. The Farellas' requests don’t appear outlandish by comparison, Patmore says, though every site is different in terms of potential impact.

“I think when (the planning commission) finds out that 12 events per year is below the average that they’ve approved in the past and…that other places have been allowed similar things (they’ll be ok with it), but they do look at every location individually,” he says.

Elkins stressed that the Farellas, who now live in Traverse City but are in the process of revamping the Donner Road parcel, aren’t interested in turning the property into party central.

“Hands down, the owners want it to feel like a farm, and they want to maintain that rural character of Donner Road,” he says. “That’s really important to them.”

Elkins and the Farellas are working to address all concerns tied to parking, sound and other matters, Elkins says. They plan to only have amplified (electric) sound inside a large barn on the property that will be functionally soundproofed.

“Anything that has to be plugged in would be indoors, and any outdoor music that we have will be unamplified,” he says.

Perhaps more notable is that Elkins says the type, size and number of events mean that they are less likely to cause significant disturbances in the first place. The Farellas would like to do community events and smaller weddings, he says.

“They're going to be living there…and they don’t just want a bunch of weddings,” Elkins says. “If they do weddings, they’ve already been talking to other community members and and wedding planners that want to have have smaller weddings. There’s a…demand for smaller size weddings, and they want to fill that niche.”

More information about the proposed winerty can be found in the documents on this page.