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Show City Council Listens: Escalante To Have County's First Micro-Brewery ESCALANTE Escalante residents, 40 strong, turned out for their City Council meeting on Nov. 2. The issue of a public hearing on a proposed micro-brewery micro-brewery for the city the first in Garfield County may have been the drawing card for most in attendance. Mayor Lenza Wilson and council coun-cil members Chris Christensen, Don Porter, Marjie Spencer, Marilyn Mari-lyn Jackson, Stanley Stowe, and clerk Vicki Schulkoski were in attendance. Mayor Wilson explained that Tom Mansell, owner of the Escalante Esca-lante Grand Staircase Bed and Breakfast who was proposing the micro-brewery, was not required to hold a public hearing but that Man-sell Man-sell had requested the hearing to make the community more aware of what he was doing, to' respond to any questions, and to allay some of the rumors. Mayor Wilson said he had spoken previously with the city attorney on the issue and was informed that "there is nothing specifically prohibiting anyone from operating a micro-brewery in Escalante ordinances. They are," said Wilson, "still subject to state regulation and need a city license for beer but it is a perfectly legal operation." Mayor Wilson invited Mansell to speak and Wilson opted to read a letter he had previously submitted to the city council in February. His letter stated that he had conducted . research concerning micro-breweries since he and his wife were proposing to build such a business and that he had spoken with the city police in Moab regarding micro-brewery businesses operating there. He said he was told the businesses were "good neighbors, better than most" and that there had been no problems. Mansell said he spoke with Moab Health Department representatives repre-sentatives who expressed two con- (See MICRO-BREWERY Page 5A) MICRO-BREW From Front Page cerns to him. First, that the kitchen he builds should be constructed con-structed to withstand high impact water usage from cleaning, thus not using standard drywall on the walls. Second, he would need a well to collect the mash after brewing. They talked about the mash, he said, and "the Health Department's idea was to sell it rather than put it down the drain where it might clog pipes, but not because it's a hazard. They said the smell would not be a concern." Mansell said he also spoke with the Park City Police Department where he was told they could recall no complaints with either of the micro-breweries there. Mansell said he talked with Summit County Health Department officials and their comments echoed Moab's, with no complaints. As for odors, Mansell said they told him odors seem to dissipate with the breezes and they, too, have never had a complaint. Regarding the residual mash, Mansell quoted them as saying, "It's organic; put it in your garden, sell it to feed pigs or put it in the landfill. It will decompose." Mansell said he talked to each law enforcement and health entity openly and candidly, telling them he was a member of Escalante's Planning and Zoning Committee and that they were concerned about the ramifications of someone putting in a micro-brewery in Escalante. He said he purposely did his research following the holidays when if there were complaints, they would be more likely to surface. Whenever he talked to city officials, Mansell said he talked about tourists. Officials did acknowledge the fact that alcohol bars are problems. Mansell said to the townsfolk, "Let me state clearly, this is a micro-brewery, not a bar. There will be no hard liquor. No ifs, ands or buts. There are rumors going around town we will be selling kegs to teenagers like, I want to go to jail? "All beer brewed will be for on-premises on-premises consumption, only, no take out, period. We do plan on offering sandwiches, fries, etc. At the present we do not plan to offer wine because for that we would (See MICRO-BREWERY Page 7A) MICROBREW From Page 5A need a full liquor license and we do not want to go through the hassle. If we do plan to offer wine in the future we will approach the town and tell them of our intentions and, once again, there will be no hard liquor at all. The Mansells plan to add to their cement porch at the rear of the bed and breakfast and remove the hot tub and propane tank there. "It's basically going to be an on-premises on-premises only consumption micro-brewery." micro-brewery." The hearing was then opened to the public for questions and comments. Questioned about capacity, Mansell answered that he would have between 10 and 20 tables. He said that should they plan' on expanding, they would again come before the city council. Asked if he had sufficient property for parking, he assured those in attendance that property requirements were more than met. Asked if the Mansells would hire others to assist with the new business, he answered yes. Mansell said hours would probably be 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 or 10 p.m. daily. He said he didn't know how townsfolk feel about keeping the business open on Sundays, but said he would prefer to keep it open as much as possible during the tourist season and was considering the possibility of opening for Super Bowl Sunday and maybe for one or two other special events. Mayor Wilson said there was nothing in Escalante City ordinances ordi-nances that regulates what days a business can open. Escalante resident Monte Luker, a former law enforcement officer, spoke saying that he likes "Tom Mansell a lot" and "I think it's okay to have a micro-brewery in our town. But, I can tell you, that you will always have problems with tourism around any kind of brewery or any kind of alcohol-related alcohol-related businesses. I watched it for 30 years in Salt Lake City ... I can tell you, if it gets at all out of hand. Let's just say you have one bad accident at night that occurs as a result of it ... "You have people that get marshaled. You have a wonderful church here in our presence, and they will marshal a force out against him. But they will also take it out on the city council and say that you should have looked out for the best interests of the city." Luker said that he liked the idea of a micro-brewery to serve tourists from Europe who were accustomed to such services, but only if stringent rules accompanied . its operation, anticipating a general uprising in the community if problems were forthcoming. Tom Mansell responded saying "I think one of the biggest things that scares me to death is having to go to court because somebody had one too many. ... I don't want to see anybody drink and get behind the wheel. "Whoever I hire to stand behind that bar and serve that beer has got to go to state classes ... Td rather not sell two to three beers to somebody and lose the business than to face a lawsuit. "I've got to be diligent in what I do," said Mansell. "If I think a guy has had too many, he's off. It's very simple. Let him get mad, let him pay his bill, let him get out. I don't care. I don't want to risk what we have built in this community and the rapport we have with everybody here over somebody who wants to have an extra beer and get hammered and walk out and get in his car "I will not hesitate, if I think the guy has had too many, to call Sam and Murdock local police officers to come down and say, hey listen, this guy has had too much. If he gets in the car, grab him. I will not hesitate to do it." "Are you willing to listen," a local woman asked Mansell, "if they all came up to you and mentioned that they didn't want it open on Sundays?" "That's why I'm here," said Mansell. "We all heard what the town attorney said. In essence, there's really not too much you ... can do to stop me. . ... I can come here and say I want to do a micro-brewery micro-brewery your lawyer said this, I know what I can do and I can push this through. I know I can. But what good is that going to do? That's why I asked for the public hearing "Monte Luker had suggested back in November of last year that we hold a public meeting. I said I'm all for it. Let's hold a public meeting. Let's find out what the concerns of the community are." Wilson said "Ladies and gentlemen, you've brought up these issues. . For example, open on Sundays, the times. Do any of you want to comment before we close?" "The one thing that I'd like to propose," said Luker, ... is to be sure you ask him whenever the people in the council decide they're comfortable with it to have a definite closure on Sunday because that would help to placate those people who are religiously oriented and who will be very much against this project." Escalante businessman Curt Richins commented, "In my experience, when the laws changed ... putting a definite food order with the beer and that solved a lot . of problems, and put a limitation on how many beers ... a person can have with a food order. That works." Regarding the Sunday closure," said Sharol Bernardo, "...we're in a tourism-based economy ... they're the tourists here seven days a week, especially through the season. And what I'd like to suggest is that especially for Tom's own business if he has customers who are patronizing his business who want to dine and have a beer, on his premises, he should be able to service them seven days a week." "Hey," said Janalee Bernardo, "you can buy beer on Sunday in a convenience store. What's wrong with letting Tom do it on Sunday?" Another resident said, "I think it would just make everyone happy if you were willing to accommodate the people that are religious." Another man said, "If we're going to bring religion into this, I think the people that have religious concerns need to clean up their own house, because there are people in this town who are members of the church who sell alcohol on their premises and from their stores. If they're going to bring up that, if they want to be as right and have a say in this, then they need to clean up their own house first. And if they're going to continue to sell alcohol in their stores and it's going to be available on Sundays, then why should Mr. Mansell have to be required to close on Sunday and not sell alcohol?" Monte Luker said, "I can appreciate these comments that religion has nothing to do with it. And I think they are well founded. But that's the number one, bottom, line issue in Boulder why Mark Austin did not get that liquor permit because ... they already had two well established places where they sell it. But the law said as long as the people rise up and protest, you cannot go against that as a community. ... He Mansell doesn't see, he is raising up a new establishment and many of those religious people will believe it's totally devoted to beer." "I don't mind following any rules and regulations that you lay down," responded Mansell, "as long as they are consistent and applied across the board. If you're going to make me do it, then make everybody else do it. "The product of the micro-brewery micro-brewery is the beer and the beer does not leave that building." At that point, the public hearing to receive comment was closed and the council took up its order of business, dealing with other issues, then again addressed the micro-brewery micro-brewery as a council. Mayor Wilson pointed out a precedent that another Escalante business "the Escalante Outfitters does sell beer on tap in their Pizza shop. Basically, what Mr. Mansell is proposing is the same thing. The only difference is ... the Outfitters does sell off-premise. You can go in and buy a six-pack. Mr. Mansell is not proposing to do that. "Secondly, the issue of where the beer comes from you can haul it in on a truck, you can make it in a back room it doesn't matter, in the eyes of Escalante's ordinances. , "... We have nothing to specifically stop his request ," said Wilson, "and the city attorney's suggestion was just what Tom Mansell said: Anything you do for him, you need to make sure that anybody else in the same position, like the Escalante Outfitters, is treated appropriately and equally. "... I don't see a problem with this. Providing here again that we follow the same rules that are set down for any other business, whether it be the Prospector ... in the past or now, the Escalante Outfitters. "I think those have worked very well. ... if you are going to have beer in town, ... this is a much better regulated way to do it than just having a service station that sells it to the public and once it goes out the front door you have no control over what happens to it. "So that is my recommendation ladies and gentlemen, what is yours?" Wilson then turned comments over to the council. Don Porter asked of Tom Mansell what would be the alcohol content of the beer to be sold at the micro-brewery and Mansell replied 3 percent. "I don't see a problem with it." Porter said, "as long as it passes all the zoning ordinances and city and state laws." Mayor Wilson said, "The city council does have the option, in the future, of enacting regulatory ordinances for any business like this but you can't go back and outlaw it once somebody has done it in the first place. Marilyn Jackson asked, "How many liquor or beer licenses does Escalante City have now?" Clerk Vicki Schulkoski stated there were no hard liquor licenses in Escalante, just the state liquor agency and beer licenses currently held by Cottam's Canyon Country, Phillips 66, and Escalante Outfitters." "I think it's a good idea ," said Marjie Spencer, "and I would like to see you go ahead with it. I see no problem with it. I should think, probably a little different than a lot of other people do. But having raised several boys, I would much rather they have one drink than buy a case. And they would be in their (the Mansells') establishment. I think it's a great idea. I'd be all in favor of it. But I understand we don't vote on it." "I'm in favor of it too," said Chris Christensen, "Sounds on the up and up to me." "I still represent that part of the community that thinks we have enough already," said Marilyn Jackson. "Given that the majority of the council has no big concerns at this time, Mr. Mansell, what do you anticipate for your time line? asked Mayor Wilson. Mansell said he hoped to start some time in September or October of next year. Wilson reminded Mansell that the construction must go through the standard building approval process of the planning and zoning commission. He said that Mansell's alcohol license itself, once all the requirements are satisfied, may be obtained at any time by formally request to the City Council. Construction Cons-truction need not necessarily be completed, he said. |
