As city staff acknowledge the confusing nature of the city’s definition of a brewery might have put the Aspen Brewing Company at a disadvantage, Aspen’s newest small business will argue again before Aspen City Council tonight to abolish the city’s one-pint rule for the brewery’s taproom.
In conflict is a ruling by the city’s community development department that the brewery’s taproom cannot serve its visitors more than 16 ounces of beer in a 24-hour period. According to the city, the purpose of the ruling is to keep the brewery from operating as a bar, which is not allowed in the part of town known as the Service/Commercial/ Industrial zone.
The brewery appealed the decision at the Feb. 25 council meeting, but lost its appeal because the council did not find that Community Development Director Chris Bendon had abused his discretion. Since then, the brewery has opened for business and is operating under the one-beer rule.
Council encouraged the brewery’s owners to return for tonight’s meeting, despite the loss of their appeal, to argue that the zoning regulations for the SCI should be changed to allow greater flexibility in the amount of beer the brewery can serve on site.
The city defines a brewery as “a facility for the production and packaging of alcoholic malt beverages for distribution which does not generally receive the public or engage in retail sales.” Some city officials understand this to mean that the brewery cannot sell any beer to be consumed on site. Figuring in the prohibition on bars in the SCI zone, the community development department issued the one-pint cap.
But another section of the land-use code states that allowed SCI uses — such as the brewery — can dedicate 25 percent of their floor space to retail.
City planner Ben Gagnon noted that, “While staff finds that the definition of a brewery does not allow for open bar use, we also recognize the looseness of the code language.”
While the decision is entirely up to City Council, one option staff has identified is to allow the brewery to sell as much beer as it wants as long as it keeps to its proposal to close by 9 p.m. each night and to comply with the 25 percent cap on retail space, Gagnon added. But staff also recommends that the code language be cleaned up to clarify that nothing else resembling a bar can set up in the SCI zone. City staff is strongly in favor of closing any loopholes, Gagnon said.
Attorney Christopher D. Bryan, who represents the brewery, argued that the brewery has the potential to be an “anchor” for the SCI, and its popularity could serve to drive customers to other SCI businesses that might not be as well known to the community.
But, he added, for that to work, the brewery must be able to serve its patrons more than 16 ounces.
curtis@aspendailynews.com
