USA, VA: Third brewery gets permit to be built in Sperryville

After two failed votes, the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors on September 1 approved a special exception permit for a third brewery to be built in Sperryville under the condition that the business owner reapply for the permit in three years, the Rappahannock News reported.

The deal was reached after Jackson Supervisor Ron Frazier and Piedmont Supervisor Christine Smith expressed concern about traffic and flooding in the area, and but the board ultimately decided the safety concerns would be reassessed if the owners seek reapplication.

The brewery is planned to be located at 11961 Lee Highway in Sperryville where Veditz and Co. Brewing LLC will restore an existing building on the property. When finished, it will contain a 600 square-foot tasting room, two public restrooms, an outdoor biergarten and a parking lot for up to 17 vehicles.

The brewery will operate Fridays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and weekends from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the entire year.

“The concept for the brewery was very inventive,” Smith told the Rapp News. “At the same time, in light of the continuing concerns about traffic and safety, and in particular that intersection where the brewery is located, I would be doing everybody a grave disservice by ignoring those concerns. And there's no way to alleviate that problem.”

County Administrator Garrey Curry said the county floodplain ordinance does not preclude anybody from building a brewery in the floodplain, so long as they meet the requirements of the ordinance. Commonwealth Attorney Art Goff said that a condition of the building permit would be that flood structures are maintained by the county floodplain administrator.

Curry also said that the board typically grants a special use permit and then gathers information later as to how property owners should manage flooding.

“How can we grant an application if we don’t have all of the information?” Frazier said about the flooding concerns.

Smith first made a failed motion to deny the application after a split vote, with her and Frazier voting to deny the application, Hampton District Supervisor Keir Whitson and Wakefield Supervisor Debbie Donehey voting in favor of the application, and Stonewall-Hawthorne Supervisor Chris Parrish abstaining, saying he wasn’t sure which way to vote. Whitson then made another failed motion to accept the application, with the board voting the same way.

Parrish made a motion to grant the application under the condition that the business owners reapply in three years, which passed 3-2 with Smith and Frazier voting in opposition. Parrish’s motion also allows the owners to serve food in the facility, but forbids food trucks.

“I don’t think it’s reasonable for us to single out an applicant because of a broader problem,” Whitson said of their concerns.

Archer noted that he is not proposing to build a new structure in a floodway, but is instead restoring an old building.

Donehey said that she was “not sure how she could say no” to the application when there are still uncertainties about how the brewery could affect the area. She said that the parking layout is safer than Hopkins Ordinary, another brewery located in Sperryville, and that if the business owners find that they can’t adequately support the volume of customers, then they can find a different location.

“I guarantee that if people start parking along the road someone will be on the phone with the sheriff,” Donehey said.

Smith said that while she believes breweries contribute to tourism in the county, she doesn’t think that where Chapman is planning to build is safe. She said that the Rappahannock County Planning Commission made an unrealistic recommendation to the board since the flooding and traffic concerns were not mentioned. Whitson, who is chair of the planning commission, believes that traffic concerns should be addressed by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

After the meeting, property owner Robert Archer sent a mass email addressed to Smith, writing that he was disappointed she didn’t take the time to discuss her concerns with him prior to the application reaching a public hearing.

“So, I am left to make my own conclusions about your pattern of behavior now, and indeed over the past four years. You do not represent me. You do not represent Main Street. You do not represent Sperryville. You've gone out of your way to make me feel like a second class citizen. All of that ends now,” Archer wrote.

“Further, for you to call out to me after Wednesday's meeting, smile through your teeth, shake my hand and say ‘congratulations, I hope you sell lots of beer,’ after 90 minutes of doing your best to derail the application is especially reprehensible. Amissville already has a representative. It's time for Sperryville to have their own,” he wrote.

Archer told the Rappahannock News that he invited all of the members of the board to tour the site before the public hearing, and Whitson and Donehey were the only two members of the board to accept his invitation.

Smith responded to Archer’s email, writing “I’m very familiar with the property and was well versed on your application, its implications, benefits and pitfalls. I don’t mean to make you feel like a second class citizen, but not every business belongs everywhere.”

“You get people to slow down naturally by opening businesses here,” Archer said in an interview. “This is a commercial zone. Why wouldn't you want a business here? And it was less about the application and business use and more about the applicant.”

08 September, 2021