Published: May 12, 2008 11:01 pm         

Oak Hill council rejects zoning amendment again

OAK HILL — Oak Hill city council members Monday evening rejected for a second time an amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance proposed by opponents of micro-breweries in the city.

Members voted 5-2 — with Jon Nick Lopez and Diana Janney voicing opposition — to defeat an amendment that would alter the way the city measures distances between such businesses and places like schools and churches. Monday marked the second reading of the amendment — effectively killing it.

No one from the public spoke for or against the move.

The city’s planning and zoning board previously recommended that council members reject the amendment, which was first proffered to city council by representatives of the Fayette Plateau Ministerial Association at the council’s April meeting.

City manager Tom Oxley said he felt a need to have such a vote due to the amount of “finger-pointing and accusations” hurled at city council in recent months over procedural issues surrounding a proposed micro-brewery at 321 E. Main St.

A pair of would-be proprietors have been free for nearly a month now to open up for business a micro-brewery at that site. Oak Hill city council voted 5-2 April 14 to accept the duo’s application to do so.

With Lopez and Janney voting no, April’s vote marked the final hurdle of a three-month effort by Nathan Herrold and Ken Linch to gain the requisite zoning and statutory approval for their endeavor. It was at the April meeting that council voted to deny a first reading of the amendment that was again rejected Monday.

Oak Hill’s planning and zoning commission gave the project its unanimous blessing in January, and Mayor Bill 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 Hanna-bass termed a “process problem” Jan. 15 when votes for both the micro-brewery and the zoning amendment to allow micro-breweries 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, and the city planning and zoning commission gave it yet another unanimous endorsement March 25.

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 on the micro-brewery’s premises.

— E-mail:

mhill@register-herald.com