[nggallery id=273 template=dop-thumbnail-gallery]
Prince William reviews zoning laws for small breweries
Manassas will help a popular brewery expand while Prince William County will ask why small breweries are not allowed there.
Jeremy Meyers is the owner of BadWolf Brewery on Center Street in Manassas. Open for 18 months, the brewery offers its own distinct hand-crafted beers – and that’s all. Laws in Virginia have changed from when only places that served food could serve alcohol. And when Manassas updated their zoning laws to allow such small-time breweries, BadWolf eagerly set up shop.
Now it’s to time expand and Meyers, who lives with his wife in Prince William County, had his sight set on Tacketts Mill in Lake Ridge. There’s an old lakeside restaurant that would have been a perfect setting for a tap room and even more barrels.
He went to speak with county officials about opening up a new small brewery there.
“Basically, it was an unequivocal no. We were told that breweries were only allowed in manufacturing districts, and there are no exceptions unless you are a restaurant, and I don’t serve food, I don’t want to serve food,” said Meyer.
We’re not talking about an operating the size of Anheuser-Busch or Coors. Meyer refers to his operation and others like it in Manassas and neighboring Stafford County, as “coffee shop breweries.”
“It’s a damn shame you can’t have a little coffee shop brewery in Occoquan or in Stonebridge [in Woodbridge],” said Meyers.
Prince William has not updated its zoning laws to permit these types of businesses like Manassas and neighboring Stafford County has already done. Elected leaders said the laws could stand updating.
“This is a fairly small, niche market, as we’ve seen with the wine industry in Northern Virginia. But there is a market for this kind of stuff, and bringing a small brewery here would be away to better promote our market,” said Prince William Occoquan District Supervisor Mike May.
The county’s zoning office will now review the rules on the books that prevent such small breweries from opening in the county. Right now, breweries – big or small – may only open in industrialized areas.
Prince William County Planning Office Director Christopher Price says commercial areas and places zoned for agriculture would be good spots for small breweries to open. Requests to open a small brewery in the county are few, he adds.
Meyer said it could take the county six to eight months to change the laws. His business need to expand now, so he’ll take advantage of some incentives from Manassas City leaders will provide, like paying for some permit fees and the cost of producing architectural drawings.
City leaders were already urging Bad Wolf to expand in the city even while they were in meetings with Prince William County officials.
“When you have one party saying ‘no, it’s not legal, and then you have another saying we’re going to give you $1,500 to stay, it’s kind of a no-brainer,” said Meyers.
Bad Wolf Brewery plans to open its new location in a warehouse across the city from its current spot. There they’ll do hand bottling, canning, and offer a wider assortment of draft beers. The first Bad Wolf Brewery will remain open as a “pilot” brewery where the company will experience with new brews.
