Published: March 05, 2008 10:13 pm      

Would-be brewers now looking at Fayetteville

OAK HILL — The would-be proprietors of a proposed micro-brewery in Oak Hill have apparently decided to either pursue an alternative location or hedge their bets by trying their odds in two different Fayette County municipalities. Oak Hill Mayor Bill Hannabass seems to suspect the former.

“They haven’t dropped Oak Hill yet, but I see the writing on the wall. I get the feeling that they are leaning toward Fayetteville,” Hannabass said of Nathan Herrold and Ken Linch.

“A couple of times, he (Herrold) has referred to the Oak Hill application in the past tense. He did say that he was ‘leaving all options open.’ Those were his words. Public sentiment supported their locating in Oak Hill. I believe that’s very true. The city government has not been an obstacle to Nathan Herrold or Ken Linch.”

Up until Feb. 28, Herrold and Linch had devoted their collective energy toward navigating the zoning process in Oak Hill.

A variance application was filed on that date in Fayetteville for a change to the city’s zoning ordinance that would allow for bottling in a certain business area of town, Fayetteville Town Superintendent Bill Lanham explained. Specifically, the application requests permission to operate a “brewpub/micro-brewery.”

The application lists Playmore Ventures Inc., in the name of Benjy F. Simpson, as the owner of the 18.88 acres in question on Wolf Creek. Fayetteville’s planning and zoning board will hear that request at a meeting at 6 p.m. March 25 at town hall.

Oddly enough, Herrold and Linch are scheduled to be at Oak Hill’s city hall the same day at 7 p.m. for a hearing before that city’s planning and zoning commission. As of close of business on Tuesday, that meeting was still scheduled, Hannabass noted.

Voice messages left with Herrold were not returned.

- - -

Members of the Fayette Plateau Ministerial Association have fought the concept tooth and nail since the idea for a micro-brewery at 321 E. Main St. in Oak Hill was first proposed in January.

Oak Hill’s planning and zoning commission gave the project its unanimous blessing then, and Hannabass broke a tied vote of city council Jan. 15 in favor of amending the town’s zoning laws to accommodate the business.

Council members encountered what Hannabass termed a “process problem” Jan. 15 when votes for both the micro-brewery and the zoning amendment appeared on the same meeting agenda.

A second reading of the amendment was endorsed by city council Feb. 11 by a vote of 4-3. Herrold and Linch must now go back through the process again, the mayor explained, since city council remanded the matter back to the planning and zoning commission — hence the March 25 meeting.

Herrold and Linch had initially applied for both a micro-brewery and a tavern in Oak Hill but chose to drop their bid for the latter.

The business would distribute beer to area restaurants that may be interested in purchasing the product for sale and consumption at their businesses. Alcohol would not be sold or consumed by the drink at the micro-brewery’s premises.

— E-mail:

mhill@register-herald.com