PENTICTON – The new owners of a Naramata Bench winery would like Penticton city council's blessing for the addition of a lounge with an outdoor patio.

Quidni Estate Winery, formerly Three Mile Winter, is seeking a winery lounge endorsement from council.

The winery at 1465 Naramata Road needs the licence to create an interior lounge with a 10 person capacity and an exterior lounge with a maximum 70 person limit.

The lounge would provide food and beverage service which would allow patrons to transfer drinks from the interior to the deck without staff assistance.

The Liquor Control Licensing Branch has determined the applicant as eligible, and the winery’s next step is to proceed to the Site and Community Assessment Stage for local input. Hours of operation about be from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday to Sunday.

City of Penticton building and permitting manager Ken Kunka says the winery's owner Todd Moore will be proactive in advising neighbours of the proposed change.

Currently there are five wineries within a one kilometre radius of Quidni Estate Winery, one with a winery lounge.

Kunka says the Liquor License Technical Committee supports the application.

He says expects the application to have less impact on the neighbourhood than a recent Special Events Application requested by the Bench 1775 Winery earlier this year.

“They aren’t hosting weddings and things like that, it’s just for a lounge,” he says, adding the winery has no plans for live or amplified music.

Fifty letters will be sent to the winery's neighbours and signs will be put up and a notice printed in the local newspaper. Delegations and submissions responding to the application would have the opportunity to come before council at the regular meeting on Oct. 19.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.