Hidden Hills Winery now owns 8.8 acres of land to build a winery on after the Knox County Board voted last night to make a land sale netting them $108,000.
This follows a 2014 lawsuit in which Hidden Hills sued the county for not granting a conditional use permit on Fleischer Road off County Highway 10.
Several county board members had voted against allowing the winery a permit because of concerns of that their location west of Knoxville wasn’t zoned properly and was unwanted by neighbors.
Hidden Hills Winery LLC is owned by Holly and Chancey Weidenhamer.
The deal was struck in partnership with the Weidenhammers, Board Chair Brian Friedrich, State’s Attorney John Pepmeyer, County Clerk Scott Erickson and KCAP President Ken Springer and approved 12-0 by the county board.
Friedrich says the deal that was announced last night has been about six weeks in the works.
“The community out there is happy it’s moving out of their community and over here the county board’s happy that we’re actually helping the community fix some of their zoning issues instead of keep going to court with it,” Friedrich says.
Friedrich also says at this point there are no provisions of how the county will use the $108,000.
Holly says that Hidden Hills will begin with a small production and tasting room and a small gift shop, but she says there could be more depending on how things go.
Hidden Hills estimates 9,000 visitors annually.
