‘Blueprint Brewing’ nears OK for expansion

A new brewery in Towamencin is close to getting the go-ahead to expand their operations.

Blueprint Brewing Company, located in a former warehouse on Gehman Road, was the subject of two public code hearings and a zoning code amendment heard by the township supervisors last week.

“They had opened last fall over in the limited industrial district, over on Gehman Road, and the original ordinance amendment

was adopted last year to allow the accessory sale of the beverages, along with the manufacturing, the brewing,” said Township Manager Rob Ford.

Several rounds of discussion were held between Blueprint’s co-owners and the board from April through the summer leading up to final approval in October 2017, including their conditional use approval and a code change to allow beer sales in the same industrial district as the brewery use. Since then, Ford said, the establishment has drawn crowds with their diverse offerings and live music, but found several pieces of code they asked the supervisors to update.

“The original ordinance they prepared, and which was adopted, it was too small a retail area — it was almost ridiculously small,

so they had to correct that,” Ford said.

“They also wanted to have outside seating, so they came back for that ordinance amendment. It’s been reviewed by our planning commission, and received their approval,” he said.

During their Aug. 8 meeting, Towamencin’s supervisors held a public hearing on a zoning code amendment modifying the 2017 approval to increase the space of their retail area, and after that hearing the board voted unanimously to approve the amendment. Following that first hearing and approval, the board then held a second public hearing, also related to Blueprint, to change the conditional use approval from 2017 which allowed the retail sales.

“The conditional use hearing was to allow them to have the things that were presented in that ordinance amendment,” Ford said.

“They’re not adding anything to the building,” he

said, but the sale area “was just way too small.”

After hearing Blueprint’s request for the modified conditional use approval, the board held open the hearing for one piece of documentation, which the manager said should be secured by the time the supervisors next meet on Aug. 22.

“The only thing they were missing was an updated letter from their landlord, to say it was OK. It should not be a problem at all, but we didn’t want to close the record without that,” Ford said.

Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 22 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.Towamencin.org.

For more information on Blueprint Brewing Company, visit www.BlueprintBrewCo.com, search for “Blueprint Brewing Company” on Facebook or follow @Blueprint_Brews on Twitter.