Proposal Targets Manufacturers

Code Changes Would Allow Small-Scale Industries In Commercial Areas

NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE/Michael Woods • @NWAMICHAELW Jon Allen, center, owner of Onyx Coffee Lab, works with his head roaster Mark Michaelson, right, and assistant roaster Kendel Trout as the check the quality of a batch of roasted coffee beans Thursday evening at their roasting facility in Springdale.
NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE/Michael Woods • @NWAMICHAELW Jon Allen, center, owner of Onyx Coffee Lab, works with his head roaster Mark Michaelson, right, and assistant roaster Kendel Trout as the check the quality of a batch of roasted coffee beans Thursday evening at their roasting facility in Springdale.

FAYETTEVILLE -- A set of policy changes the City Council is considering could make it easier for small-scale manufacturers to open or expand businesses in town.

City code limits coffee roasters, microbreweries, cabinet-makers and other small-scale manufacturers to industrial areas.

At A Glance

Small Scale Production

A set of policy changes the City Council is considering would allow “small scale production” by right in several zoning districts where manufacturing is prohibited.

Most manufacturing sites would be limited to 5,000 square feet. Microbreweries, micro-distilleries and micro-wineries would be allowed to operate in the following zoning districts, so long as their buildings are less than 10,000 square feet and they produce no more than 15,000 barrels of alcohol per year.

• C-1, Neighborhood Commercial

• CS, Community Services

• C-2, Thoroughfare Commercial

• UT, Urban Thoroughfare

• C-3, Central Commercial

• DC, Downtown Core

• MSC, Main Street Center

• DG, Downtown General

Conditional-use permits would be required in the following two zoning districts:

• NS, Neighborhood Services

• R-O, Residential Office

Source: City of Fayetteville

Unless a business' primary use is commercial -- such as Tiny Tim's Pizza, which is a restaurant with a brewery attached, or Mama Carmen's Espresso, which roasts coffee for wholesale but is primarily a coffee shop -- manufacturers who want to set up shop in commercial areas have to rezone their property or apply for a conditional use permit from the city.

"There have been situations where a new or expanding business has either had to request a conditional use permit to operate in an existing commercial building or been forced to an undesirable industrial area or a different community to find appropriate space to lease," Andrew Garner, city planning director, said in a Dec. 19 memo to Mayor Lioneld Jordan and members of the City Council.

Garner said in an interview Friday city planners have seen an influx of small start-ups and are looking for ways to encourage entrepreneurship.

The policy changes would only apply to manufacturers in buildings with less than 5,000 square feet. Production space for microbreweries, microdistilleries and microwineries would be limited to 10,000 square feet. That doesn't include tasting areas or retail space.

Garner said the smells, noise, frequent deliveries and trash disposal issues that can be associated with larger industries aren't as common with small-scale manufacturers.

"We felt comfortable with a really limited amount of heavy manufacturing in commercial areas," he said.

The changes would apply to all zoning districts where restaurants are allowed -- up and down College Avenue or along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, for instance.

Jason Corral, co-founder of Columbus House Brewery & Taproom, said he would have welcomed the changes last year when he approached city staff with plans for a microbrewery in a 3,000-square-foot building at 701 North St., east of the Scull Creek Trail.

The property, which used to be part of the old Ranco lumberyard, was zoned for commercial purposes.

Corral and his business partner, Carey Ashworth, had to rezone the property to an industrial setting, a process that cost about $1,000 and took two or three months to complete. Corral said Friday he had to hire a surveyor for a legal description of the property. The rezoning request had to be reviewed by the Planning Commission before it was unanimously approved by the City Council on May 6.

"It was a barrier, but, for me at least, getting the business to operational status has just been barrier after barrier," Corral said.

For other small manufacturers, being able to develop by right would mean fewer regulatory hoops to jump through.

"Anything that saves you time and money is something that's going to make (opening a business) seem more attainable for some people," Corral said.

Ashworth said Columbus House should be open to the public by March. A taproom will be set up in the front of the building where beer brewed in the back will be served. Ashworth and Corral also plan to distribute beer they brew.

Several aldermen said they supported the proposed policy changes when the City Council discussed the changes for the first time last week.

Several also asked why the policies couldn't be expanded.

Alderwoman Sarah Marsh, one of the City Council's Ward 1 representatives, said it can be hard to find industrial properties in town that are smaller than 5,000 square feet.

"It's hard to be specific in the size you need when there are so few spaces available," Marsh said.

Jeremy Pate, the city's Development Services director, said planning staff wanted to take a conservative approach "to test the market and see if it works."

The City Council could always expand policies at a later point if needed, Pate added.

Ben Mills of Fossil Cove Brewing and Jon Allen of Onyx Coffee Lab are two business owners who said they like what's being considered even if the policies wouldn't apply to them directly.

Mills opened Fossil Cove on industrial-zoned property off Poplar Street in 2012. The property's zoning allowed microbreweries and other types of manufacturing by right.

"This is a very positive thing, though," Mills said. "It frees up every commercial space in town."

Onyx roasts coffee beans in Springdale for its bistro on Gregg Avenue in Fayetteville and also sells wholesale to Whole Foods Market, Fresh Market and Ozark Natural Foods.

Allen said he decided to locate a roughly 5,000-square-foot coffee roasting facility in Springdale, in part, because it was easier to set up a manufacturing shop there than in Fayetteville.

"Anything that makes it easier (in Fayetteville) would be welcome, not just to the coffee community, but to anyone trying to make small goods," he said.

The City Council left the ordinance that would change several sections of city code on its first reading Tuesday. The ordinance is up for discussion again at the council's Jan. 20 meeting.

NW News on 01/12/2015

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