(PD) -  Delivering a blow to the most controversial winery project in Sonoma County, the county’s top parks official has found that the owner of a vineyard near Sebastopol has no current legal right to access his property by crossing the Joe Rodota Trail.

Parks Director Caryl Hart also determined that any possible changes to the popular bike path to accommodate the proposed Dairyman Winery and Distillery project would not provide any benefit to the trail or the public.

Her decision places Sonoma County Regional Parks in direct opposition to the plan by winemaker Joe Wagner to turn his 68-acre property into a large winery and distillery that would produce up to 500,000 cases of wine annually and hold events with up to 600 guests.

Tennis Wick, director of the county’s Permit and Resource Management Department, said Hart’s letter has put the brakes on development.

“It’s development 101. No access, no project,” Wick said.

An attorney representing Wagner disputes the county’s legal reasoning, and the 33-year-old winemaker has vowed to press on. “We still believe this is the right project in the right place,” Wagner said in an interview.

In the year since Wagner applied for a use permit, the proposed Dairyman project has become the highest-profile battle over winery development and expansion in Sonoma and Napa counties. The fight pits wineries, which are looking for growth opportunities in an increasingly competitive industry, against community activists and environmentalists who contend such expansion is ruining their quality of life with traffic and congestion.

Wagner, who earlier this year sold his Meiomi brand for $315 million to Constellation Brands Inc., has encountered significant opposition to his proposal from a range of local groups raising concerns about the development’s impact on natural resources, groundwater and roads. The Sebastopol City Council unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution in February urging county officials to deny the application for the project, located along the Highway 12 corridor between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol.

Permission to cross the Joe Rodota Trial, an almost 9-mile pedestrian and bike trail, has emerged as the major sticking point. Even Wagner acknowledges that the dispute must be resolved for his bid to be successful.