Clinton Vineyards Owner Wants to Turn Old Barn Into a Restaurant. Neighbors Aren't Sure.

Walter Mullen and reporter Claire Greenberger take up a proposal from Clinton Vineyards owner Barry Milea to convert a former tasting-room barn on Schultzville Road into an 80-seat fine-dining restaurant with a limited events component. The plan has landed before the Clinton Planning Board, where traffic concerns have taken center stage: a new study projects peak hourly vehicle counts could jump from roughly 25 to around 60, more than doubling, on a narrow, winding road with constrained sight lines. Nearby residents are also worried about what a busy restaurant would do to the road's quiet, rural feel. Milea frames the project differently, arguing it would keep the land in agriculture and head off residential development, and he points to a 2023 town law permitting farm restaurants under certain sourcing rules. The Planning Board has paused the hearing pending revised plans; a review is expected in April, with the hearing set to resume after that. Produced by Emily Sachar, Walter Mullin, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud at the Radio Free Rhinecilff studio