Planning Commission recommends no Beer Museum parking exemption

Private downtown parking spaces to facilitate expansion of the Virginia Beer Museum’s outdoor, backyard presence. Photos/Roger Bianchini

Despite an overwhelming 13-3 show of public hearing support for a requested downtown parking exemption to allow expansion of a backyard Beer Garden at The Virginia Beer Museum, on Wednesday evening, September 19, the Front Royal Planning Commission unanimously forwarded a recommendation that all three options on how to achieve that exemption be rejected by the town’s elected officials.

Local attorney and Beer Museum proprietor David Downes was seeking to be allowed to convert about eight private parking spaces behind his law office and beer museum business located at 14 and 16 Chester Street, respectively, for expansion of an outdoor patio and special events area “Beer Garden”.

After a series of work sessions, the planning commission was presented with three alternatives to facilitate the request: 1/ the Beer Museum receive the same parking exemption granted to businesses on East Main Street and parts of Jackson Street without additional conditions; b/ receive the exemption by way of a Special Use Permit allowing individual event review; and c/ that the first option be granted to facilitate operations of museums and art galleries only.

The envisioned outdoor, backyard ‘Beer Garden’ of the Virginia Beer Museum is currently in limbo.

Option one was Downes originally submitted proposal, option three was an alternative he submitted were option one not able to get majority commission support.  That third option appeared to be a response to the idea that approval would set a precedent for any non-exempted downtown area business with private parking to receive a similar exception.  Addressing the commission prior to the public hearing Downes indicated opposition to option two.

Downes rationale for the exemption was expansion of what he can offer at one of Virginia’s most distinct museums – a combination of recording the long history of Virginia beer brewing dating to the pre-revolutionary war era and involving several prominent founding fathers, most prominently George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as well as socialization around that history and its product.

The now fenced-in private property at 14 and 16 Chester Street: to park OR not to park (the latter in order to expand an outdoor events area to draw additional customers to downtown)? THAT is the question, as Shakespeare might have posed it.

But on Wednesday, after a series of work session discussions and a pubic hearing where the 13-3 majority supported the Beer Museum initiative, the Town’s planning commission rejected Downes’ request for accommodation of an existing business need in favor of a long-term perspective on potential future downtown parking needs.

After making a motion to approve Downes’ preferred option one, Planning Commissioner Darryl Merchant cited a revitalization of Front Royal’s Historic Downtown Business District currently underway and a consequent potential strain on the Town’s existing public parking spaces.  Asked by Planning Commissioner Cee Ann Davis if he was arguing against his own motion, Merchant said yes, explaining that he made the motion to put the matter on the table for commission discussion.

Merchant pointed to recently-opened businesses like the Front Royal Brewery, past relocated ones like Element restaurant, as well as the pending renovation of the Afton Inn to include first-floor commercial businesses, including what has been described as a restaurant-outdoor beer garden venue fronting the intersection of Royal Avenue and Main Street some three commercial blocks west of the Beer Museum.

Planning Commissioner Davis then launched into a lengthy explanation of support for Merchant’s argument against granting the exemption in Downes’ preferred form, or as it turned out in ANY form at all.  During work session discussion Davis had broached the idea of a past contracted consultant suggestion to allow downtown private parking spaces to be exempted for other uses at a cost – that cost Davis forwarded at $5,000 per space.  Collected money would be earmarked for the future construction of a tiered, downtown parking deck.

The Future is Now?

David Downes summarizes his case for less private parking on his property in order to expand the outdoor activities footprint of his Virginia Beer Museum.

While past Washington Redskin coach George Allen may have thought so (and the Beer Museum does serve a John Riggins-brewed “Forth and One” pilsner), it appears the Front Royal Planning Commission is not on board with that developmental philosophy.  At an August 1 planning commission work session Downes appeared exasperated with the future parking needs rationale.

“I’m getting a little frustrated – I’m surrounded by parking, parking the Town cites as getting 20% usage,” he told the commissioners.  Actually, stats (George Allen was very big on stats) presented by Town Planning Director Jeremy Camp at the early-August work session indicated a 20% to 39% usage of the section of the Peyton Street lot adjacent to Downes’ property between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. when most businesses are open in the area.

A planning staff summary of a 2017 downtown parking study stated that the Peyton Street lot “did not exceed 40% full at any time” – though recent development cited by Merchant may have pushed that stat upward in the past year.

At an August 1 work session Cee Ann Davis worries over downtown parking space as Front Royal hopes commercial revitalization continues into the future. However, one current business proprietor wonders if those worries aren’t ‘much ado about nothing’ – at least not yet.

And on Wednesday, September 19, 2018, Planning Commissioner Cee Ann Davis said she believed that the Town should make a “wise choice” involving a long-term perspective, rather than grant exemptions in what she called a “piecemeal” fashion.

She said she viewed her stance as “not a negative idea” and challenged all those present in support of the Virginia Beer Museum initiative to go online or social media to suggest ways the issue could be addressed in a more comprehensive manner.

Davis noted that the county government was currently involved in a five-year mandated comprehensive plan review process.  She suggested that perhaps the town and county governments could work together on a long-term solution to balance individual business needs versus the greater good of Front Royal’s Historic Downtown Business District.

Public Point …

The 13-3 public hearing majority for Downes request included other downtown business owners, an adjacent property developer, Beer Museum customers and employees.  Two people, Erik Bartock and Gregory Olmstead relocated to the area from the D.C. Metro/Northern Virginia area within the past two years, cited the Beer Museum as a positive influence on either their decision to relocate here or the quality of life they have encountered since moving here.

A 17^th speaker, Charles Rockwell, urged the commission to find a compromise solution that did not negatively impact adjacent businesses’ public parking or utility access, while accommodating the Beer Museum owner’s desire to expand his outdoor event presence.

If the non-beer drinking Ice Cream Man (C&C Frozen Treats William Huck) sees a viable downtown beer garden as a positive, who can see otherwise …

C & C Frozen Treats owner William Huck, fully adorned in his “Ice Cream Man” attire, spoke in support of Downes’ request.  While not a beer drinker himself, Huck said he felt the Virginia Beer Museum’s ambiance contributed to an understanding of a portion of both Front Royal and American history that was a draw to the downtown business district, creating customers, not only for the beer museum, but other downtown businesses.

Huck, creator of the “Family Fun Day” event that has developed into a major downtown draw over the past two years, called Downes a positive contributor to Front Royal’s Historic Downtown area.  Of course “Family Fun Day” has recently come under council scrutiny as downtown parking issues are coming to the fore – but that is a story for another day.

One supporter of Downes’ request, James Justice, told the commission he and his wife and bought the property at 12 Chester Street where the Enso Art Gallery was located, adjacent to the Downes properties.  He said he found the tall wooden privacy fence that is an issue for several nearby business owners, particularly East Main Street’s Nicole’s Jewelers whose rear exit fronts the fence’s south side, an improvement rather than a detriment to the neighborhood.

While renovating his property, Justice said that prior to the fence’s construction he found after business hours late-night transient foot traffic in that secluded parking area leaving all manner of debris behind, including human feces.  Since the gated fence’s construction, Justice said that transient traffic “is no longer walking through in the middle of the night.”

Downes has already permitted and constructed the fence around the disputed rear area of his buildings.  During his remarks on his exemption request prior to the public hearing, Downes indicated one reason he had built it was to accommodate Nicole Jeweler’s owner Inna Kolesnik’s stated desire not to be exposed to the Beer Museum’s outdoor events.

He also asked critics of his parking exemption request not focus attention on the fence, since it was not what was currently at issue before the town planning commission.  However, one speaker noted that the fence had created a tight and difficult path from Nicole’s rear exit to both the Town’s Peyton Street parking lot and a utility propane tank.

And counterpoint

Well, Main Street Pawn’s Ralph Waller can …

Two of the three speakers in opposition to Downes request were nearby business owners, Ralph Waller of Main Street Pawn and Inna Kolesnik of Nicole’s Jewelers, as well as a customer of Nicole’s, Joan Linch.

Waller questioned the nature of a museum that offers beer to customers.  He cited one incident in which a patron was arrested carrying several concealed weapons including two handguns and a knife after creating a disturbance at the museum.

During his opening remarks, Downes questioned potential portrayals of the Virginia Beer Museum as “gun-slinging saloon” or “evil, horrible and insidious place” based on one incident in two years.

Waller also said he believed that back area privacy fence was taller than the permitted 6-foot maximum height.  He then urged the planning commission not to set a precedent of driving more private, off-street parking into public parking lots.

As well as Nicole Jewelers Inna Kolesnik, who has rear exit issues since David Downes constructed a privacy fence for his beer museum, can – though Downes stated at least part of the reason he built the fence was to accommodate Kolesnik’s desire to be cut off from view of Virginia Beer Museum outdoor activities.

Nicole’s Jewelers proprietor Inna Kolesnik told the town planners she felt that, not only her rear access to and from public parking in the Peyton Street lot had been hampered by the Beer Museum privacy fence, but her security as well.  The latter concern is a consequence of reduced visibility of what path is remaining from her back door to public parking.

As her three-minute time limit expired as she was building steam in her case against the parking exemption, Kolesnik asked to be allowed to continue – “This is very painful for me,” she told commission Chair Deborah Langfitt.  Told the public hearing must proceed within appointed time limits, Kolesnik was rescued when another signed-in speaker, Susan Rockwell, offered her three minutes to the Nicole’s proprietor.

Kolesnik utilized the additional three minutes to question the Virginia Beer Museum’s business practices, alleging potential violations of local or state codes regarding alcohol service.

Long-time Nicole’s customer Joan Linch was the final public hearing speaker, responding to the chair’s call for any additional speakers who had not signed up.  Linch echoed some of Kolesnik’s points, calling the Beer Museum privacy fence “huge” and “ugly”; and wondering at the museum designation.

“It looks like a bar to me,” Linch, who identified herself as a public school teacher, offered.  She said the Smithsonian was her idea of a museum.  Responding to earlier museum parking exemption supporters comments on the positive socializing nature of the Beer Museum, Linch added, “I don’t go there (museums) to pick up people.”

One earlier speaker observed that much of the criticism of Downes’ request appeared to be personal or “a grudge match against the Beer Museum”.  He disputed the negative portrayals, calling it “a friendly place” where he had met “world travelers, bikers and hikers”.

Another supporter of Downes request, Tim Gallion, offered himself as “a character witness” for the Virginia Beer Museum.  “I’ve never had a problem there … it’s friendly; I’ve made international friends there – we solve the world’s problems over a beer; I can’t believe we can’t do that here.”

Tim, if you can go online to the Town of Front Royal website and suggest how at some indeterminate future point the town government can fund a two-tiered, 250-space parking deck priced somewhere between $2.5 million and $6.5 million without putting an undue financial strain on downtown business owners requiring parking exemptions, or without placing a perceived oppressive tax burden on town citizens, I think somebody will owe you a beer – or two.

The Virginia Beer Museum at 16 Chester Street, Front Royal, Virginia is OPEN for business – however, expansion of its backyard Beer Garden is on hold pending resolution of lost parking space exceptions; OR unless the Front Royal Town Council disagrees with its planning commission rationale in recommending rejection of all three exemption options on about 8 parking spaces. Royal Examiner File Photo