Members of the Board of Directors were given a "30,000-foot-view" of some possible changes to the city's alcohol code before the regularly scheduled board meeting on Tuesday.
The changes discussed during the workshop are related to a goal adopted by city staff to investigate changes to city alcohol code to allow for "nano-breweries," which would be smaller than the micro-breweries currently allowed in city code. In addition, the nano-breweries would not be required to have a restaurant attached, unlike micro-breweries.
City Administrator Phillip Patterson said the ordinance, which would likely be presented in April, would include definitions for small brewery and nano-brewery. The small brewery definition would come from the State of Arkansas' definition, which requires that such breweries manufacture less than 45,000 barrels of beer in a year.
Because the manufacture and sale of 45,000 barrels of beer could create traffic problems in certain areas of the city, specifically the downtown area, the city is also considering adding a nano-brewery definition, Patterson said. The definition proposed at the workshop would limit the nano-brewery to brewing 5,000 barrels of beer, or 155,000 gallons, per year.
"These are all pretty much straight out of the state statute," Patterson said.
Director Frank Johnson asked a question about a proposed requirement that in addition to only allowing sealed beverages to leave its premises, a small brewery would also have to provide tours through its facility to the public. City Attorney Jay Williams said the requirement was added by the state to encourage small breweries to be more community-focused and less industrial.
In addition to the requirements, the proposed ordinance's draft includes fees and taxes that would be levied on breweries, which would be the same as the fees and taxes restaurants that serve alcohol currently pay.
Another amendment was included in the presentation that would allow not-for-profit events to serve alcohol at locations that are currently not allowed to serve alcohol, namely schools and churches. For an event to serve alcohol at such a location, the event would need the permission of the school or church, and such events could not occur more than four times per year, per location.
The proposed changes were discussed under two sections. First were the code amendments, including definitions and regulations for the breweries. The other part of the changes that were discussed centered around zoning changes that would control where small breweries and nano-breweries could be located.
Nano-breweries would be allowed in general commercial (C-1), roadway commercial (C-2), and light industrial (I-2) zones, and in planned development (P-D) districts with a special use permit. Small breweries would be allowed in industrial (I-1), I-2 and C-2 zones.
Director Lucas Roebuck asked Patterson why the discussed ordinances contained a focus on small breweries when the city's main goal was related to nano-breweries. Patterson replied that small breweries were a stepping stone to nano-breweries, but Roebuck said he still was not comfortable with its inclusion in the ordinances.
Board members will see an ordinance on amending the alcohol code as early as the first meeting in April, on April 4, Patterson said. The ordinance to change the city's zoning code would likely go before the Planning and Zoning Commission on April 11, when it could be sent to the board on April 18 if Commissioners approve the ordinance.
"If beer makes sidewalks, we need to sell more beer," joked Director Brad Burns, referring to the potential tax earnings.
General News on 03/26/2017