A craft brewing company can’t open a tasting room at its new Santa Maria site, the City Council voted Tuesday night, agreeing with opponents that the location isn’t suitable.
Libertine Brewing Company asked the council to overturn the Planning Commission’s denial of a conditional use permit to operate a tasting room at its 8,295-square-foot building at 2325 A Street in the A Street Business Center on the southwestern edge of Santa Maria.
“I just personally think we need to respect the rights of those surrounding businesses and deny the use of this property for a tasting room,” Councilman Jack Boysen said, adding he is fully supportive of the tasting room in a different location in the city.
“It’s just not the right place,” Boysen added.
The council voted 4 to 1, with Councilwoman Terri Zuniga opposed, to uphold the denial of the project after more than 90 minutes of discussion.
The firm is allowed to store and bottle beer at the Santa Maria site, but the proposed tasting room required an additional review.
Community Development Director Larry Appel likened the A Street Business Center to industrial condominiums which creates the unique situation. Tenants own their building including part of the parking lot.
Limited parking prompted some neighbors to oppose the tasting room, although the proposed conditions of approval included limiting the number of customers who could be at Libertine for tasting and the hours that aspect of the business could operate.
“I think the fact that staff is suggesting so many conditions on this project is also indicative of the inherent potential conflicts,” Boysen said. “We may have conflicts that we haven’t even thought of at this point and time.”
While Santa Maria Brewing Company is located in a similar light industrial setting, it was one of the first businesses to open at the site. Libertine is moving into site where several existing businesses operate.
Councilman Bob Orach also agreed the A Street location is not appropriate for a tasting room. In addition to limited spaces on site, parking is also banned along A Street.
“In my own experience, fighting parking issues is just a killer,” he added.
As the lone supporter of the tasting room, Zuniga said the conditional use permit process would allow the city to see if the tasting room can operate at the site without causing conflicts with neighbors.
“I think that this location, and these types of locations, is exactly where you find a lot of brewery tasting rooms,” Zuniga said.
Libertine representatives said they were ready to finalize agreements that would allow them to use neighbors’ parking spaces during the non-regular business hours that tasting would occur.
One of the neighbors spoke up in favor of Libertine, saying Fisher Pump & Well Services would provide eight parking spaces for the tasting room.
“We do not feel having Libertine Brewing will impact our business in a negative way,” office manager Stacey Dunlap said.
The most vocal opposition came from James Simms, whose Simms Machinery International sits across the parking lot from Libertine’s location.
Simms said he moved to the site from a facility on Preisker Lane eight years ago after finding an affordable building with the suitable zoning for his firm.
“All of our work’s international, therefore, we don’t have the normal 8 to 5 business hours that normal folks do,” Simms said, adding he feels bad opposing the tasting room.
“I think this is the wrong place. I think it should be in a place that offers those similar types of businesses.”
As a higher end brewery, Libertine would cater to the professional clientele and more experienced beer consumers, the craft beer firm’s representatives said.
The firm that started in 2012 and already has facilities in Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo, with beers sold in Sweden, England, France and Canada.
Before the council’s vote, Tyler Clark, founder and president of Libertine, urged the council to give the tasting room an opportunity to operate.
“I feel like we’re getting punished for future success if we even have that,” he said, adding that if the tasting room became successful, the firm would buy a bigger building for a larger tasting room.
“We’re not here to bum anybody out, ruin everybody’s business and cause a scene,” Clark said. “It’s a community-oriented thing and a small tasting room that’s open a couple of days a week so we can tell our story.”
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.