Washington County planners OK permit for farmhouse brewery

FAYETTEVILLE -- A permit for a farmhouse brewery near Goshen was approved Thursday by Washington County planners.

The county's Planning Board voted unanimously to approve the permit for the Orthodox Farmhouse Brewery.

The permit must still be approved by the Washington County Quorum Court.

The brewery is proposed for a 4.5 acres at 15656 Ball Road near Goshen, owned by Jesse and Ashlyn Gagnon. The permit request was tabled at the board's Feb. 25 meeting to allow the owners to provide more information to board members.

The Gagnons are planning to use one building on the property as a brewery and gathering space. They also live on the site and a barn on the property is not included in the permit request. The Gagnons said they will operate the business themselves and may have from one to three additional employees. Guest capacity will be limited to about 20 people, according to information submitted to the county planning department.

According to the Gagnons, they plan to operate up to 30 hours per week, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, from noon to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. There will be no amplified music allowed at the business. The business may have a "warming kitchen" to allow some prepared foods to be served.

The proposal drew no comments in opposition from neighboring property owners, according to information from the planning department staff. Two nearby property owners spoke in favor of the proposal at Thursday's meeting.

Also Thursday, the board approved a proposal for the first phase of the King's Ransom RV park. The project is planned for a 104-acres at 20696 Blue Springs Village Road. The project is shown as being built in three phases, with the Planning Board approving the plan for phase 1 at Thursday's meeting. In phase 1, the RV park would have 18 "oversized" spaces, each 30-feet wide and 55-feet long with parking space for an additional, smaller vehicle alongside the RV. The complete proposal would have 111 spaces for recreational vehicles.

Plans for a Dollar General store on U.S. 412, east of Springdale, were also approved by the board Thursday. The plan calls for a 9,100 square-foot building on property at the intersection of U.S. 412 and Old Hickory Flat road, east of Springdale. The building will be on about 2 acres being split off from a larger parcel.