Vineyard Owner Fined $120K for Offering Free Housing to Employee in California
A California vineyard owner is taking legal action against Santa Clara County after being fined over $120,000 for permitting his longtime employee to reside in an RV on his property for several years.
Michael Ballard, whose family owns Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards south of San Francisco, claims the county penalized him for violating local zoning laws that prohibit living in an RV on public or private property, according to The Mercury News.
Marcelino Martinez, the vineyard manager, shared that his family lost their lease on a trailer years ago and struggled to find affordable housing in the area. In response, the Ballard family allowed Martinez, his wife, and children to live in an RV on the vineyard since 2013, providing them with shelter.
“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 imposing fines of $1,000 per day for the RV, later reducing the penalty to $250 daily. The county disputes the total amount of fines, stating that Ballard did not agree to deadlines for resolving the violations. Officials have reportedly offered significant reductions in fines if he agrees to remove the RV.
Ballard’s attorney, Paul Avelar, argues that the county is imposing “excessive fines” and infringing upon the U.S. Constitution with its enforcement actions.
Ballard also expressed concern about the county’s focus on penalizing him rather than addressing broader issues. “Just drive anywhere in the county; there are mobile homes parked all over the place. There are encampments everywhere you go,” he stated. “The problem is obvious and overt, yet they’re choosing to prosecute us in probably the least intrusive example of this, where we are letting someone live on private property in a private location, and we’re not bothering anyone.”
