Wine Trail will get a sudsy detour with new brewery
Travellers on West Kelowna’s Wine Trail can look forward to making a pit stop for beer.
A new brewery for 2850 Boucherie Road received city council’s support on Tuesday, despite some misgivings about parking and the potential for latenight noise.
“I’m super excited about this,” Coun. Stephen Johnston said. “This is going to be a fantastic addition to the wine trail.”
The Hatching Post brewery was proposed to have a total capacity for 178 people. But council denied the developer’s request to reduce the number of parking stalls from 42 to 33 spaces. As a result, the brewery’s capacity would be 132 people.
Some neighbours also wanted alcohol sales to end at 11 p.m. rather than midnight. But a majority of councillors agreed with the later cut-off, noting the brewery will be fairly far removed from nearby homes.
And they noted a brewery recently approved was granted a midnight end to alcohol sales.
In justification for the diminished number of parking stalls, the brewery proponent noted that an abundance of bicycle parking spots would be provided. But the operator of a nearby winery, Volcanic Hills, worried the lack of parking at the brewery would see people use his lot.
While most councillors suggested the brewery would complement the Wine Trail, Coun. Carol Zanon suggested the new business would likely cater to different customers.
“I can’t imagine that once you start tasting wine, you start drinking beer,” Zanon said.