Saratoga, Calif. – Michael Ballard, owner of Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards, is taking legal action against Santa Clara County after being fined for allowing a long-time employee to live in an RV on his property. The county claims that Ballard violated local zoning laws, which prohibit residing in RVs on public or private property.
The dispute centers around Marcelino Martinez, who has managed the 2.6-million-square-foot vineyard for years. Martinez’s family, facing limited affordable housing options after losing their trailer lease, has lived in the RV on the vineyard property since 2013. Ballard stated that he allowed this arrangement to prevent the family from becoming homeless. “I couldn’t make a family homeless for arbitrary reasons,” he said. “The human impact exceeded any damage or nuisance that their continued living in the trailer was going to create.”
In July 2019, Santa Clara County began imposing fines of $1,000 per day, later reduced to $250 per day, totaling over $120,000, according to Ballard. However, county officials dispute this amount, claiming that Ballard repeatedly refused deadlines to resolve the zoning violation. The county maintains that it offered to significantly reduce the fines if Ballard removed the RV, but he declined.