The St. Mary’s County Planning Commission at its September 10 meeting grappled with a proposal to allow breweries in rural areas (RPD, Rural Preservation District). The proposal was one of several to promote agritourism that were presented recently to the county commissioners by the staff of the Department of Land Use and Growth Management (LUGM). The commissioners forwarded the brewery proposal on to the planners for a recommendation.
The proposal mimics a recently enacted state law allowing breweries. That proposal allows breweries to produce up to 15,000 barrels per year. That limit raised concerns from Joseph Wood of Mechanicsville, past president of the St. Mary’s County Farm Bureau and member of the Port of Leonardtown Winery cooperative. Wood pointed out that the maximum translated to 850,000 gallons of beer, but wineries and distilleries were limited to 27,500 gallons per year. “We just want to keep everybody on a level playing field and see how it works,” he said.
After some math crunching it was decided that the maximum allowed by the state law would be really 540,000 gallons per year, still quite a bit more than wineries and distilleries. But Planning Commission member Susan McNeill wondered what a truly comparable figure might be, considering the amount of barley and hops that would be required to make a profitable amount. “What is the equivalent between beer, wine and liquor?” she asked.
John Parlett, chairman of the St. Mary’s County Agriculture, Seafood and Forestry Board said his group was meeting this week and would make a recommendation. But he added, “I am concerned about limiting production below what the state allows.”
LUGM Zoning Administrator Yvonne Chailett said there was a difference in definition of special events between the county and the state. Special events are limited by the state law to 12 a year and require a state permit. But some events fall outside that definition and would be allowed by the county with a county permit.
The state law prohibits a brewery from selling its product off the farm, for instance at festivals, although Chailett said the festival organizer may be able to get a permit to do so. But the state law also prohibits the brewery from providing samples off site to prospective buyers, and even requires a permit for the brewery owner to attend a function to promote the product. Several commission members scratched their heads over that requirement. McNeill wondered what had happened to free speech.
Commission Vice Chair Shelby Guazzo handled the public hearing in the absence of Chairman Howard Thompson. She expressed concern that the proposal did not include any buffer protection for neighbors and that it also allowed sale on premises from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. She thought that late hour could impact neighbors. The state law does not have a buffer requirement and the county proposal replicates the hours allowed by the state.
–>
