USA, CO: Longmont planning and zoning commission allows Bootstrap Brewing Company to open new brewing facility

The Longmont planning and zoning commission on July 20 decided to allow Bootstrap Brewing Company to move forward with plans to open a brewery and taproom at the old Times-Call warehouse, Longmont Times-Call reported.

Bootstrap owners Steve and Leslie Kaczeus want to open a second Bootstrap Brewing location at the warehouse at Second Avenue and S. Pratt Parkway. The building used to be owned by the Lehman family, who used it for storage. In 2015, the Lehmans sold it to Red Clay LLC, an entity registered to Oskar Blues Brewery founders.

The Kaczeuses plan to brew beer in the warehouse, with one to two trucks coming per week to pick up product. There will be a tasting room that will use an existing patio and possibly a space for food trucks, the couple told the commission.

They went before the commission on July 20 to ask for a site plan variance. Longmont law says breweries, due to potential odors and traffic, must be 250 feet away from residentially-zoned neighborhoods.

The warehouse building is in an industrial zone but within 250 feet of six lots zoned residential. The residents within 300 feet of the potential brewery were notified of the plans and raised no objections. No one from the public spoke to the commission about the brewery on Wednesday.

The commission voted 6-1 to allow Bootstrap to move forward. Commissioner Judson Hite cast the lone dissenting vote.

Hite explained that he was all for the brewery's plans, but felt he had to vote against the variance because he didn't feel that the property met the requirements under Longmont law that allowed the commission to grant an exception to the residential setback.

"I don't disagree that this land use is a well-conceived, welcome addition to this part of town," Hite said. "My problem is actually with the process and the code and the fact that the variance is only limited to certain circumstances and I'm not at all convinced that just because this property sits on the edge (of the industrial zone) it's the kind of thing not to be protected against."

Commissioner Michael Polan said he felt the brewery would fit in with the area and the city's plans to revitalize that part of Longmont.

"Left Hand (Brewery) is just to the west, Wibby (Brewing) and 300 Suns (Brewing) is just over to the east," Polan said. "I think this is in the spirit of the variance. I'm going to be more about the spirit and not be too technical."

The commission's decision is final unless a resident appeals it within seven days. The couple will next get architectural drawings and building permits.

The Kaczeuses said after the meeting that they were thrilled with the decision. They hope to open the second location by the end of 2016 or start of 2017, Steve Kaczeus said.

They said they were excited about the location's high ceilings and to be operating in Longmont. They are leasing 14,000 square feet of space in the warehouse, while their Niwot location is only 3,700 square feet.

"We are kind of beginning to step all over each other in the space we're at right now," Steve Kaczeus said about the Niwot location.

Leslie Kaczeus said they need extra space for brewing because they signed a deal last week with Coors Distributing Company.

"We'd like to do production in Longmont and keep Niwot as more (research and development) and trying out new recipes," Leslie Kaczeus said.

The couple said they're not concerned about competing with the growing number of taprooms in Longmont.

"We can leverage our distance from each other and our closeness," Steve Kaczeus said, mentioning the new BrewHop Trolley. Whenever there's a Great American Beer Festival "event, we get tons of people and it'll be easy for them to hit a number of breweries because we're so close together. We hope to collaborate and do some fun events."

21 July, 2016