Stonington ZBA rejects variance for Mystic microbrewery
Stonington — The Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday denied a variance request from a Mystic man who is seeking to open a microbrewery in the Mystic Junction building at 40-44 Washington St. in Mystic.
Members voted unanimously to not grant the variance needed for the project because the applicant, Andrew Rodgers of Mystic, did not demonstrate a legal hardship, according to ZBA Chairman Matt Berger.
A hardship created by a unique aspect of the property is required to issue a variance.
In December, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved Rodgers’ request to amend the zoning regulations to allow microbreweries and brewpubs as a use allowed by special permit in the DB-5, LS-5 and M-1 zoning districts.
Rodgers, who is the head brewer at Cottrell Brewing on Mechanic Street in Pawcatuck, then applied to the ZBA for a variance to eliminate the required 15-foot buffer between a residential zone and a liquor store or take-out food operation in an LS-5 zone.
Several neighbors of the building opposed the variance at Tuesday night’s public hearing.
“It would have been nice to have, but it does not qualify as a legal hardship,” Berger said on Wednesday.
He added that the property has other allowed uses that do not require a buffer.
He said Rodgers could return to the Planning and Zoning Commission and seek to remove the buffer requirements from the regulations.
In his application, Rodgers stated that a narrow, irregularly shaped side yard does not provide enough space for screening, while plantings cannot be done because of a drainage easement.
At its narrowest the property line is 5.6 feet from the edge of the building.
Rodgers planned to have 10 seats in a 1,800-square-foot space that would be open three days a week and close by 10 p.m.
Rodgers told the board during the hearing “that Mystic Junction has been largely unoccupied for years now, and may continue to be unoccupied without the new life that a brewery can breathe into it.”
The Economic Development Commission supported the project.
In an email to EDC members Wednesday, Chairman Blunt White said that while ZBA “did give the matter the requisite thought,” “from a 'real world' perspective not a good decision; consider the building has been essentially vacant for the past 5 years, demonstrating clearly no demand for the other LS-5 uses.”
“'Vacancy by regulatory constraint' can and should be corrected by improving the regulations,” he wrote.
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Twitter: @joewojtas
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