In response to informal inquiries having been made about the potential to locate brew pubs and distilleries in town, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has created some new zoning rules that would regulate such land uses.

Following an uneventful September 21 public hearing on the topic, P&Z members approved rules on the two alcohol-related uses, which would be allowed in many different land use zones.

The P&Z would allow such uses in the Fairfield Hills Adaptive Reuse (FHAR) zone; the M-1, M-2A, M-3, M-4, and M-5 zones, all of which are Industrial zones; the B-1 and B-2 Business zones; the Sandy Hook Design District (SHDD) zone, and the Hawleyville Center Design District (HCDD) zone. As a practical matter, such uses also would be allowed in the South Main Village Design District (SMVDD) zone, which is an overlay zone.

George Benson, town director of planning, said he has received inquiries about the potential to locate brew pubs in town. He did not provide specifics. He said that, "One person wants to come into Newtown, somewhere," to create a brew pub. Mr Benson noted there is a brew pub in Monroe.

Mr Benson said that the vacant rental space formerly occupied by Panera Bread, within at Sand Hill Plaza at 228 South Main Street, would be a "perfect place" for such a use.

There has been interest in creating a brew pub in Sandy Hook Center, Mr Benson noted.

Uses such as brew pubs and distilleries would expand Newtown's retail base, Mr Benson said. By creating such zoning regulations, "We're expanding our ability to bring businesses into town," he said.

People also have inquired about the prospects for starting a distillery in town, he added.

Stratford Hall at Fairfield Hills has been mentioned a possible site for an alcohol-based business, Mr Benson said. The vacant Stratford Hall formerly was the library at the state psychiatric hospital, which closed in 1995 and was purchased by the town in 2004.

The approved zoning regulations include definitions of brew pubs and distilleries. A brew pub is a business for the manufacture, packaging, and storage of beer, which produces at least 5,000 gallons, but not more than 500,000 gallons, of beer annually. The brew pub may have onsite sale and consumption of the manufactured beer, and other alcohol, and/or food. Brew pubs also may have wholesale and limited retail sale of manufactured beer for off-site consumption. Such facilities would need to comply with a state beer manufacturing permit/brew pub permit.

P&Z members approved that definition, with the potential to modify it to allow smaller facilities, if determined to be legally allowed.

Under P&Z's definition, a distillery is a facility where liquor is manufactured, stored, bottled, and sold in sealed containers at wholesale. Such facilities would produce less than 25,000 gallons of liquor annually. Such a distillery may include onsite retail sales for consumption off-premises or on-premises. A distiller would need to obtain a federal basic permit through the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. A distiller also would need a state distiller's permit.

Retail/Industrial

At the September 21 session, following another uneventful public hearing, P&Z members also approved new zoning regulations that allow retail uses in an industrial building in a M-1 (Industrial) zone.

Mr Benson told P&Z members that the Tier One organization has approached him in seeking permission for retail sales in its industrially-zoned building at 31 Pecks Lane. Tier One Real Estate, Inc, has multiple tenants at its more than 135,000-square-foot building, which is set up for industrial uses and offices.

A sports coaching firm known as Rise Above Athletics, which is a tenant there, wants permission for retail sales of sports-related merchandise, according to land use officials.After reviewing the rules proposal, P&Z members approved a new regulation for the M-1 zone that would allow up to 25 percent of the gross floor area of a multi-tenant building to be used for retail sales.

Mr Benson said that a firm seeking such a retail use could submit an application for an administrative review by town land use agency staff.

Tier One's building, which was constructed in 1965, held town offices from 2004 to 2009, during the period when Bridgeport Hall at Fairfield Hills was being converted to become Newtown Municipal Center.