Microbreweries could be coming to downtown Arlington Heights
In another step to allowing microbreweries and breweries for the first time in Arlington Heights, trustees on Monday preliminarily approved zoning rules about where those businesses would be permitted in town.
Both the smaller microbreweries - defined as businesses that produce no more than 930,000 gallons of beer per year - and the larger breweries would be allowed in manufacturing areas, so long as they're no larger than 20,000 square feet, trustees agreed.
Anything larger than 4,000 square feet wouldn't be permitted next to a residential area, village officials added.
Microbreweries 2,500 square feet or less - essentially the size of a storefront - also would be allowed in business districts, such as the main commercial corridors of Arlington Heights, Rand, Palatine and Dundee roads.
They'd also be allowed in the village's downtown - a mixed-use zoning district of commercial and residential buildings including condos and apartments.
Bigger microbreweries up to 4,000 square feet would be permitted, but only with a special use permission from the village board.
The zoning code changes - approved on a preliminary 6-0 vote of the village board Monday night - come after trustees signaled support in April of adding a new Class "M" license to the liquor code for anyone who wants to open a microbrewery or brewery. Formal approval of the changes is expected in two weeks
The operators of Itasca Brewing Co. came to village officials earlier this year to again pitch a proposal for a microbrewery and tap room on Hickory Avenue north of Kensington Road. They first approached officials in 2014 but walked away after learning breweries weren't allowed under village code.
Whether Itasca Brewing's plan for a microbrewery on Hickory would automatically be permitted without additional permission from the village board depends on the exact proposal, said Charles Witherington-Perkins, the village's director of planning and community development.
The ownership group has purchased and is renting properties in an area that was rezoned to residential to spur redevelopment. But the so-called underlying zoning was manufacturing, so feasibly a brewery would be permitted if it occupies an existing structure, Witherington-Perkins said.
He added that a formal plan hasn't yet been submitted, and there are other items that would still have to be analyzed, including building setbacks and parking.