A Weymouth brewery is planning to move it’s operations to the former Kathy Corrigan’s Gymnastics building in Rockland.
Article Fifteen Founder Leo Reardon is applying for a special permit to open a brewery/taproom at 406 VFW Drive.
He presented initial plans to the Zoning Board, which includes seating for 170 people, an outdoor patio, and indoor space for live acoustic music.
Reardon says after two years in Weymouth, they’ve had to move due to coronavirus restrictions.
“We’re basically trying to do the same thing that we’ve done in the past at a new location. We’re not really changing what we do,” said Reardon. “We’re just proposing to be able operate our known production facility, continuing to produce our malt beverages in the same way that we have.”
He says they have licenses from the state and federal government.
“We make beer that is both canned and kegged and sent out to local stores and bars,” said Reardon. “By regulation in the state of Massachusetts, we will also operate a tasting taproom inside of the location.”
The ZBA says the site has abutters that are 80 percent residential. Chairman Rob Rosa says they need a more detailed site plan for the project – detailing existing conditions, dimensions for the outdoor space, and lighting.
Forest Street neighbors wrote a letter saying they’re open to the project, but were concerned with potential impacts.
Todd Eastman told the ZBA he directly abuts the property. He says he’s visited Article Fifteen in Weymouth numerous times, and likes the idea.
He felt the initial plans did not properly show where abutting properties were.
“The back of my house to the back of that building is probably within 125 feet,” said Eastman. “As far as out back parking, stuff like that, headlights, car alarms, noise. We all have small children here, that’s my only concern.”
The outdoor patio space included six tables, but Reardon said they do not plan on having an outdoor bar. An eight-foot fence and string lighting would be used for that space. The live music space was planned for the indoor portion.
Sean Gildea said he liked the idea, but he wants future plans to include details and smell and noise. Abutter Peggy Dool asked if it would be possible to move the patio space to the front of the building.
“It’s not a direct-fire system so there’s no smoke leaving the building or anything like that. It’s all done with steam generation and recaptured water,” said Reardon. “It doesn’t really give off odors, we don’t have a ton of spoilage, so you’re not going to have kegs of bad beer out back. There’s no spoiled beer smells … we try to control that, simply because that affects the interior environment as well. Because we have the public into that space, we want to create a pleasant atmosphere.”
Reardon says he wants to work with the board to address the concerns from neighbors.
The hearing was continued to March 16th, though the ZBA says a further continuance is likely due to time for engineering plans.
