A Milton couple is suing the city after the denial of an alcohol license that is needed to operate their farm winery.
The attorney for Jim and Daryn Rosenberger filed the lawsuit May 8 seeking compensatory damages. Attorney Greg Hecht said in April that a lawsuit would likely seek more than $8 million.
Neither Hecht nor Milton city attorney Ken Jarrard responded to calls seeking comment.
Milton approved rezoning of the Rosenberger’s nearly 11-acre property in 2021, allowing the couple to create a farm winery and convert a barn into a tasting room. The couple has said that they’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last three years building the winery — D’Rose Vintners — to meet city requirements.
But the city council denied the Rosenbergers an alcohol license in April following an outcry from neighbors who worried the winery would disrupt the quiet neighborhood and attract drunk drivers. Milton was facing a possible lawsuit from the neighbors if the license was approved.
The Rosenberger’s lawsuit asks for a jury trial and for the court to “reverse or vacate” the vote denying the alcohol license, and for it to order Milton to issue the license for D’Rose Vintners.
The lawsuit states that the couple communicated with city management and staff when they first considered building the winery, and each step forward.
“No one at the city informed the plaintiffs of any opposition by the city to the farm winery during the entire time that the plaintiffs built out the project,” the lawsuit states. “The plaintiffs were told the opposite, that it was supported and approved by the city while they spent significant funds for the project.”
Two weeks after the city council approved rezoning for the winery in 2021, Milton enacted a moratorium lasting nearly a year on applications for alcohol licenses for farm wineries.
The lawsuit states that the Rosenbergers were not informed until nearly a month after the moratorium started, but in the meantime paid $8,600 for an alcohol license and $238 for a business license.
“The plaintiffs’ application for the regular alcohol license remained pending while the plaintiffs continued the substantial improvements required to obtain a certificate of occupancy for the farm winery,” the lawsuit says. “… The city knew they were spending a lot money, time and sweat equity on the farm winery.”
Before voting to deny the alcohol license, Milton had issued the business an occupational tax certificate, a certificate of occupancy and a temporary alcohol license.
According to Jim Rosenberger, D’Rose Vintners has a federal alcohol license but they can’t obtain a state license unless a permanent local license is approved.
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