One of the North Shore’s popular breweries is a step closer to being able to expand on its indoor facilities for beer lovers and offer visitors more variety.
Strong support was shown by City of North Vancouver councillors at Monday’s meeting for a rezoning application put forward by Black Kettle Brewing to add lounge and retail use to its current zoning. At the moment, the brewery’s zoning only covers manufacturing and storing beer and the provisions of a small amount of samples.
The changes would give the brewery, which has been "making it pour on the North Shore" since 2014 at 720 Copping St., the option to expand its offerings and sell complementary items, food and other beverages, like wine and cider - for those people who don't drink beer.
The approval would also allow the brewery to expand its indoor area to 157.6 square metres, offering more space for North Vancouverites to enjoy a fresh brew.
“Black Kettle Brewing has applied to the City to rezone, so the business’ operations can adapt and conform to current Provincial requirements for lounges,” a report prepared for council says.
Council voted unanimously to move forward with the zoning application and to waive the next stage’s public hearing, given the community had responded positively to an Open House on the development application back in February.
The council report says seven people attended the session on Feb. 5, and all were supportive of the application – some saying, “they love that it’s a local business.”
“Comments included support for additional indoor and outdoor space for customers, and observations of the business being a ‘community hub’ for nearby workers,” the report says.
Others mentioned wanting more beverage and food offerings and for the brewery to showcase more local artists.
At Monday’s meeting, Mayor Buchanan said it was great to see businesses wanting to expand their use and be viable in the city.
“We certainly know that the current brewery district, the businesses there have done extremely well and have been extremely popular and so I'm very happy to support this moving forward,” she said.
Coun. Don Bell, who didn’t support some of the brew areas on the Esplanade because of conflicts with nearby residents, was also on board with the zoning change.
“I have been in this site and it's a well-run operation so I'm prepared to support it,” he said, noting that there were no nearby residents that would be affected.
“It's serving a purpose along the Spirit Trail and there's also a workforce in that area as well,” he continued. Most of the issues regarding traffic will be in the evening when the businesses around are closed, so I think it's a good location.”
Coun. Tony Valente, was also happy to support the zoning change, saying it would further support for craft economy and local production.
“I'm happy to see this kind of business in the Harbourside area, also as harbourside starts to transform into a complete community.”
The rezoning application will return to council at a later date.
Elisia Seeber is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
