In a conciliatory gesture to local winemakers caught between conflicting county and state codes, the Amador County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to reimburse Ken and Jeanne Deaver $633.

The small sum represented the fees the Deavers paid to appeal county decisions preventing them from building farm labor quarters on their Shenandoah Valley property. Last month, supervisors backed their planning department's request to reverse a decision by the Amador County Planning Commission, a decision that freed the Deavers from having to obtain a conditional use permit to operate a primary single-family residence and two farm labor quarters on a roughly 42-acre parcel.

The commission agreed with the Deavers that a significantly cheaper and less intensive ministerial permit, which can be granted over the counter, should be all that was required.

In granting the planning department's appeal, supervisors acknowledged county code was out of compliance with state law on this issue, but said it would take time to address. In the meantime, explained board Chairman Richard Forster, the county can't override its own building and permitting regulations. Forster said he was sympathetic to the Deavers' plight, however, and led the support for the reimbursement.

"While I don't think they're 100 percent (right) in what they're asking (for), I don't think we are either," he said. "We're not always right and sometimes we're somewhat responsible for the actions that happen."

District 4 Supervisor Louis Boitano, who voted against granting the reimbursement, took another view. "The process is the process," he said of the county's task of rewriting its permitting requirements.

Boitano cited a lack of communication on both sides and misunderstandings of how the process works on the part of the Deavers for some of the acrimony that crept into the couple's dealings with the county. But District 5 Supervisor Brian Oneto defended the couple, suggesting it was at least understandable they became frustrated with a process that was initially supposed to be ironed out three years ago.

"I'm not saying the county is entirely right or wrong," Oneto said. "As Richard was saying, some of our codes should have been updated and it's not the Deavers' fault (we didn't have) our house in order."

California Health and Safety Code directs that no conditional use permit or zoning clearance should be required for employee housing that are not required of "any other agricultural activity in the same zone."

And an updated housing element the board of supervisors adopted in 2005 included a chapter devoted to encouraging farm labor housing, a chapter with the directive to no longer require conditional use permits for building farm worker quarters. The updated housing element was never passed as an ordinance, though, and supervisors have urged staff to address the inconsistencies quickly, as evidenced by the technical advisory committee taking up the topic last week.

Some questions remain regarding public water use and mitigation fees that would be lost as a result of the code changes. The conditional use permits cost about $15,000 more than ministerial permits, some of which goes to county traffic and recreation funds.

District 3 Supervisor Ted Novelli asked Ken Deaver whether the grape grower would consider waiving half the amount he was requesting, divided between a $558 appeal fee to the planning department and a $75 one to the board of supervisors.

"I believe we wouldn't have had to pay any (of the fees) had the county been in compliance with state law, which it had a number of years to do so," Deaver replied. "I'd rather not."

Conveying that this wasn't a one-time issue, Marilyn Hoopes, who co-owns Karmère Vineyards & Winery, said she and her husband are in the same boat as the Deavers: wanting to erect housing for their workers, yet in a state of flux until the county irons out its consistency issues. There are more than 50 existing permits for farm labor quarters.

"There are other people ... waiting for you to get your house in order," said Hoopes, an administrative law judge in Jackson.