Village trustees in Pittsford are seeking to overturn a decision from the village's former building inspector that would clear the way for the construction of a small brewery near Schoen Place.

The village's Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals heard from both parties Monday night during a meeting that lasted over two hours. The board didn't issue a ruling but is expected to consider the appeal at its January meeting.

Three people — Bryan Meyer, Jason Meyer, and Clay Killian — want to open Hawley Brewing Company at 50 State St. in the village as part of the Northfield Common development, which neighbors Schoen Place and sits just north of the Erie Canal. Since March, they and the developer have been seeking village approval to move forward.

Here's are the key issues at the moment:

The village of Pittsford currently has a moratorium on new building construction as it updates its comprehensive plan. The proposed brewery would be constructed in an existing building and not require new (exterior construction). The project has been in limbo for nine months. Trustees are disputing the ruling of their own building inspector. He gave the project the go-ahead in late September. An attorney for the developer said the village has misled and deceived them throughout the process.

"The village is primed to take a position that, indeed, the brewery is not allowed at all," Don Young, attorney for the developer and brewery owners, wrote to trustees in September.

In October, village trustees decided to appeal the determination of their own building inspector that gave the project the green light. Trustees said the brewery's special permit application is "specifically prohibited" by village code.

The board voted by a 4-0 margin to appeal the building inspector's decision. Trustee Dan Keating abstained.

"We are more than happy to walk through those concerns and make sure that our application is put together in a sort of way that it addresses those concerns," Young said by phone Tuesday.

Trustees are currently updating the village's zoning code and comprehensive plan, a document that outlines community aspirations in terms of village development. The last plan was drafted in 2002.

Trustees enacted a year-long moratorium in Nov. 2017 to halt new building projects. The moratorium remains in place, Mayor Robert Corby said. The proposed Hawley Brewing building is in a pre-existing, now-vacant building. The 1,500-square-foot space would feature a nano-scale 1-barrel brewhouse with 3-barrel fermenters.

That means most batches of beer would only be 93 gallons.

Agriculture or not?

Corby said trustees took issue that the code enforcement officer deemed the project to be an "approved use" of the building. Steven Lauth, the former building inspector, approved the project in a Sept. 28 email. Lauth deemed the project to be "agricultural manufacturing," — something allowed under current village guidelines — and not a restaurant.

Corby said Lauth no longer works for the village, but he declined to get into specifics.

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Bars and restaurants in the village go through a special permit process, because it allows trustees to consider "issues like dumpsters, screening hours of operation, noise, and parking to be addressed," Corby said. "The problem with the building inspector’s determination, this was not a use that was specifically called out in our code. The space went from a retail space to basically 15 percent of the floor area is a brewery and 85 percent is like a bar serving alcohol. It may not be a bar, but it's very similar and has limited parking there."

The appeal said the brewery is not the principle use of the space, but an accessory use. Developers and brewery owners vehemently disagree.

Developers said there are 160 available parking spots in the Northfield Common parking lot. And they point out how mostly every brewery in the Rochester region features a production space and an attached tasting room with a serving bar. Another brewery, Lock 32, is a roughly 1,000 feet from the proposed Hawley site.

Hawley would be the first brewery in Pittsford to brew beer on-site. Lock 32 relies on a contract brewing agreement with CB Craft Brewers in Honeoye Falls to produce its portfolio of beers. Lock 32 doubled the size of its taproom in February, pushing capacity from 47 to 99 people.

In its special permit application in July, Hawley owners said they will utilize existing on-site dumpsters and parking. They state, "Our product will be locally produced, and our location in Northfield Common will offer pedestrian and bike friendly access." They envision a "relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere."

It also notes that it is more than 100 feet from any residential zoned or used property in the area and concluded that there are existing trees and businesses between the proposed brewery and the road.

The plan, which was originally submitted as a brewpub where the brewery would work with local caterers and include a kitchen on premises, has shifted as they've gotten mixed messages from the village, according to Young.

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Not a restaurant

Young painted a different picture than the one offered by Corby. He said his clients have been presented with a confusing and convoluted path to opening. Young doesn't expect a ruling from the board of appeals in January.

"This project is proposed in a commercially zoned, commercial plaza," Young said. Young then cited a number of restaurants and bars in the general area. "It's not as if we're proposing it in the middle of a neighborhood. This isn't a new idea or a new use."

Young said the village originally told his clients to submit the brewery proposal as a restaurant to ease the application approval process. But since that advice they've been told that restaurants are prohibited by the construction moratorium.

Hawley Brewing doesn't want to operate a restaurant, Young said. Young alleges that the night before the application was to be considered in September, he received word from the village attorney that restaurants weren't allowed and the application should be rescinded.

But with word from the building inspector, Young said his clients moved forward with work on designs and specifications to "get the equipment in there and build it out."

That was soon followed by the notification that the village trustees were appealing the decision, Young said.

"The picture being painted here, in my opinion, is a dysfunctional process that has cost my clients lots of time, jumping through lots of cumbersome hoops, stress, money, opportunity," Young said. "Nine months and we still don't have an answer if the project is even allowed in the first place.

"...It's pretty rare to have a village, a municipality, challenge its own building inspector's determination."

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If the board upholds the finding of the building inspector, Hawley can move forward with a building permit.

Corby said the emphasis in the village remains on keeping neighborhoods "liveable and desirable."

"I'm not sure where it's all going to end up," Corby said. "We'll just have to wait and see. ...We've tried to prevent some of the nuisance issues that can occur when you have those type of commercial uses abutting residential."

He continued, "I think microbreweries are such a trend right now and obviously the village is a popular destination. I think we can support another microbrewery. I'm not concerned about that."

WCLEVELAND@Gannett.com