January 5 2026 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes

Machine-read OCR text; verify every number, name, and layout against the original page.

Mrs. Becker said to answer the question on why not brew elsewhere in separate locations,
it doubles the rent and the number of buildings they will need. If they can do it in one

location, it gets a lot of appeal and saves money.

There was conversation about the foot traffic it will bring and the benefit to the other
businesses.

There was mention of Sweetwater, Etowah, and Copperhill doing it.

Someone said obviously it opens up another can of worms with fire and the zoning code,
but he did not think zoning should be an issue.

Chief Ainsworth said the brewing part is what raises questions about zoning.

Someone said zoning should not be the stonewall.

Mrs. Becker said all the code still needs to remain in place. They will meet all that, but do
not let the zoning be the end of it.

Mr. Stephens said they definitely need further discussion and get Main Street there to
expand on what they are talking about.

Mr. Casteel said if there is something they want looked into, just let him know. They will
continue to look at this.

Mr. Newberry said if you are going to an ordinance, maybe look into only beer and non-
hard alcohol installations.

Mr. Casteel said Bridget Roberts looked up that they would only allow brewed pubs,
micro-brewery, tap room, craft, beverage production, maybe those kinds of definitions.

One thing they all said in their comments is the foot traffic it will generate. The parking
issue is where you are going to run into and issue. Where are you going to find a parcel

that will offer that amount of parking? There are only so many parking spaces in the
right-of-way and there are only so many uses the downtown area can handle. Parking is

what is going to be an issue.

Someone asked about how many parking spaces there were at Market Park.

Mr. Casteel said he did not know they would have to ask Ben Burchfield, the Public
Works Director. The zoning code is supposed to be off street parking,

Someone asked if there was a grant to expand downtown parking.

Mr. Casteel said there was a downtown plan, but it did not add additional parking. It took
some parking spaces away. He said they did get some additional parking lanes around the
courthouse. They did talk about having a parking garage. There has to be parking
somewhere. It’s doable, but it is going to take the City.

3