Delta council last week granted preliminary approval for a bylaw amendment that would allow brew pubs to open for business in additional areas including the Southlands.
The bylaw, which will go to a public hearing, would expand the areas to include the Mixed Use Ladner Waterfront Zone and the market square in the Southlands Village development. Brew pubs in Delta are currently only permitted in certain zones including core commercial.
Asked by Coun. Lois Jackson why North Delta wasn’t included, planning director Marcy Sangret explained the other areas beyond the core commercial examined included the Planet Ice and Tilbury Ice rinks, both of which have liquor primary licenses and don’t appear to need a brew pub.
Also examined was the North Delta Inn site. That property on 70th Avenue, however, is currently vacant and a development application is expected, so it’s too soon to start adding more allowable uses there, Sangret said.
Asked what the difference would be for the new use at the Southlands compared to the Four Winds Brewery application that was rejected by council this year, Sangret said what’s being proposed “is considerably small” than the earlier application.
Mayor George Harvie said pointed out the difference is 2,690 square feet of permitted manufacturing area proposed compared to the rejected application’s 28,000 square feet.
Earlier this year, council voted 4-3 to reject the Four Winds application.
The Delta brewery had applied to have a craft brewery and 200-seat restaurant in the commercial component of the Southlands.
The proposal would have seen the brewery and eatery housed in a building that would have been up to 51 feet in height. It would have contained the brewing and bottling components of the operation, while the warehousing and distribution would be handled at an industrial location elsewhere.
A distillery and winery would have been in two other smaller buildings, although Adam Mills, sales and marketing director at Four Winds, noted following a public hearing those components were added by Century Group and Four Winds had no intention of incorporating them into its project.
Although a majority of speakers at the public hearing on the Four Winds application spoke in opposition, the company subsequently received considerable support through letters to council and on social media, including an online petition.
