Planning Comm. Refers Brewing Company’s Tweak To Council

OCEAN CITY – The new Ocean City Brewing Company continues to make its rounds seeking different city approvals as the business attempts to be open prior to the summer season.

The Ocean City Brewing Company returned to the Planning and Zoning Commission this week asking for a revision to its existing site plan approval for an 8-foot by 10-foot addition to house a chiller.

In January, the Ocean City Brewing Company initially came before the commission to request a conditional use for the operation that is taking over the former Adkins Hardware property on 56th Street.

The commission expressed several concerns, such as obtrusive odors arising from a grain waste trailer originally proposed to be outside of the building, as well as the 72 parking spaces on site and only two existing entrance/exit points on Coastal Highway. The commission felt a challenge may arise between parking and deliveries with large trucks only being able to back out onto Coastal Highway to exit instead of being able to turn around on the property.

The commission also voiced concern over the brewery’s impact on the surrounding residential neighborhood of Maresol Condominiums to the southwest of the property and suggested including fencing and landscaping on the site plan to provide a buffer.

The commission voted unanimously to forward a favorable recommendation to the Mayor and City Council to grant Conditional Use for the brewery in the LC-1 District based on the conditions that offensive odors will be controlled by covering the used grain trailer.

In early February, the Ocean City Brewing Company’s request for a Conditional Use came before the Mayor and City Council. The elected officials had a list of concerns of their own. However the council voted to approve the Conditional Use request based on certain stipulations, including the chiller, grain silo and grain waste container all be contained inside of the building.

The next day the Ocean City Brewing Company returned to the Planning and Zoning Commission with a site plan for approval that had been revised that day by Atlantic Planning, Development and Design to comply with the Mayor and City Council’s stipulations.

The site plan included the grain silo, used grain trailer and chiller being moved inside. Additionally, it included the construction of a six-foot vinyl fence with trees and shrubbery surrounding the property to the south west to serve as a buffer. The only item left outside would be the trash dumpster that serves all uses of the property of the brewery, restaurant and retail.

The site plan also addressed the commission concerns over parking and vehicular flow but did not include a lighting or signage plan, and the commission voted unanimously to approve the site plan subject to a lighting and signage plan.

“The chiller has become an issue as far as putting it inside the existing building and they would like to put an addition on the side of the building, so it is still an enclosed area,” Zoning Administrator Blaine Smith said this week. “I believe the determination that it still qualifies and meets the requirement that it is in an enclosed building because I don’t think the stipulation was as much it had to be in the existing building as it had to be an enclosed building … not set outdoors.”

The chiller proposed is to be a “shed type” addition that houses the chiller. According to Chris Lynch, contractor for Ocean City Brewing Company, the business has received consent from Maresol Condominiums to add the chiller.

“The Maresol is comfortable with it in this form … and I understand when the Mayor and City Council made their decision they did it based on their concerns of the neighborhood but I don’t think they completely understand the function for that chiller. The fact of the matter is it is supposed to be ventilated,” Lynch said.

The commission voiced some concern of the level of noise to come from the chiller if built to be ventilated.

“The decibel level of this piece of machinery is actually less than the decibel levels of your typical HVAC unit,” Lynch said. “Furthermore, we can insulate the wall panels in a manner that will mimic the rest of the outside of the building.”

Commission member Lauren Taylor expressed reservations with the request.

“I am not comfortable,” Taylor said. “They [Mayor and City Council] were the final voice on the conditional approval. We advised them and then they made the decision, so if that decision is going to change then we don’t need to advise them on the decision they made.”

Commission member Peck Miller agreed the request is a revision of a conditional use granted by the Mayor and City Council, which is a signed agreement between the legislative body and the developer.

“The silo is considered a building itself, so if they are still putting the silo in the building … I am not even comfortable looking at this,” Miller said. “I don’t think we have anything to do with us.”

The commission was in consensus to refer the matter to the Mayor and City Council for consideration.