Ashton vineyard Casa Freschi faces resistance from neighbours over development
The expansion of a Hills vineyard to include a cellar door has been met with resistance from neighbours who fear it will disrupt their lifestyle and cause “potential tragedy”.
Adelaide Hills
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An Adelaide Hills wine producer’s dream to turn his Ashton enterprise into a tourist attraction has been met with resistance from some of his neighbours.
Kym and Sophie Nitschke are appealing a decision by Adelaide Hills Council to approve a development by their neighbour David Freschi.
Mr Freschi – a well-known artisan winemaker – operates Casa Freschi at Ridge Road and plans to expand his vineyard into a cellar door and function centre.
However, his neighbours argue the expansion would interfere with their lifestyle as they run a boutique bed and breakfast on the same road.
Court documents lodged with the Environment, Resources and Development Court show the couple are primarily concerned about noise obtrusion as their kitchen window looks directly into Mr Freschi’s shed – the proposed development’s location.
“Due to the contours of the landscape, the site provides a natural amphitheatre which will result in all noises from within the shed to be amplified and entering through the applicants’ kitchen window at full volume,” court document read.
“The trees that are planted along the border of the two properties are spaced too far apart to provide screening from any noise.
“The wine tasting and proposed six ancillary functions per year, with the proposed outdoor licensed area will (also) result in excess noise from the cellar door customers and their cars, making it near impossible for the family to operate as normal in their home.”
Other concerns include increased traffic along Ridge Road which is currently zoned 80km/h.
This includes the potential for “increased risk of accidents and potential tragedy” due to drivers “who are potentially inebriated”.
When contacted by The Adelaide Hills News, Mr Freschi said he was surprised by his neighbours’ opposition
“We’ve been planning this for years and received approval for this after some problems with them in 2017, after which we amended the plans to satisfy their requirements back then,” he said.
“So it is surprising that they want to stop us developing in the area as the whole project is actually really great for tourism and has low impact on the environment.
“We also live on the property so we understand that it’s a quiet rural zone, so there won’t be any amplified music. It’ll be a quiet operation.
“We just want to give people the opportunity to see what an artisan winemaker does in quite an intimate space.”
Kym and Sophie Nitschke were contacted for comment.