Hardywood’s Goochland facility is set to include an amphitheater, food truck court, bocce courts, gardens and more in addition to its beer production and taproom space. Images courtesy of Hardywood.
Two high-profile projects received opposite endorsements from the Goochland County Planning Commission at its meeting last week.
A conceptual master plan for Hardywood Park Craft Brewery’s $28 million facility in the West Creek business park received unanimous support from the commission on Thursday. The approval clears the way for the brewery to file engineering plans with the county and the state.
Known for its flagship Hardywood Singel and its popular seasonal gingerbread stout, the 4-year-old brewery is expanding to West Creek in addition to its original facility in Richmond. Plans call for a 55,000-square-foot packaging and distribution facility to be built in three phases starting in December 2016. The first phase, to open in spring 2017, would also include an amphitheater, outdoor areas and bocce ball courts.
See Hardywood’s plans for Goochland (PDF)
The project is being financed by Union Bank & Trust and is receiving financial assistance from more than $1 million in state grants and additional matching funds pledged by the county. The facility will add 56 jobs and is expected to create $1.4 million of agricultural activity in the state.
The project includes involvement from construction firm Loughridge & Co., design firms Kimley-Horn and Price Studios, and landscape architecture firm Waterstreet Studio.
While the Hardywood plan was approved without comment, a proposal from developer Hank Wilton for 191 single-family homes on 98 acres between Rockville and Manakin roads drew considerable opposition from residents and commission members alike.
A total of 24 residents spoke against the proposed development in a public hearing that lasted about two hours. Speakers noted concerns such as impacts to roads and project density, and commission members said they shared those concerns, ultimately voting unanimously to recommend denial to county supervisors.
That board is tentatively scheduled to consider the proposal at its meeting Dec. 1.
Hank Wilton is trying to push a plan for about 190 single-family homes through the Goochland Board of Supervisors.
Wilton’s request seeks a rezoning from agricultural to residential and planned unit development land uses. The request had been deferred from a meeting in October due to “significant public interest,” according to a county staff report.
An additional community meeting was held later that month that drew about 150 residents, who raised concerns about open space and inconsistency with the county’s recently adopted comprehensive plan, which recommends an average lot size of 1 acre for that area. The requested density for the project is two units per acre.
In September, Darvin Satterwhite, the attorney representing Wilton in the request, said the project would improve public safety in the area by including a needed connector road between Rockville and Manakin roads. But commissioners disagreed at Thursday’s public hearing, which drew a packed house and required some attendees to watch the meeting in overflow rooms.
District 1 commissioner John Myers said: “If we approve this, then we would have absolutely no basis to turn down future development which exceeded the density of the comprehensive plan. So conceivably in a few years we could really be in a precarious situation as far as schools and traffic and everything else.”
Hardywood’s Goochland facility is set to include an amphitheater, food truck court, bocce courts, gardens and more in addition to its beer production and taproom space. Images courtesy of Hardywood.
Two high-profile projects received opposite endorsements from the Goochland County Planning Commission at its meeting last week.
A conceptual master plan for Hardywood Park Craft Brewery’s $28 million facility in the West Creek business park received unanimous support from the commission on Thursday. The approval clears the way for the brewery to file engineering plans with the county and the state.
Known for its flagship Hardywood Singel and its popular seasonal gingerbread stout, the 4-year-old brewery is expanding to West Creek in addition to its original facility in Richmond. Plans call for a 55,000-square-foot packaging and distribution facility to be built in three phases starting in December 2016. The first phase, to open in spring 2017, would also include an amphitheater, outdoor areas and bocce ball courts.
See Hardywood’s plans for Goochland (PDF)
The project is being financed by Union Bank & Trust and is receiving financial assistance from more than $1 million in state grants and additional matching funds pledged by the county. The facility will add 56 jobs and is expected to create $1.4 million of agricultural activity in the state.
The project includes involvement from construction firm Loughridge & Co., design firms Kimley-Horn and Price Studios, and landscape architecture firm Waterstreet Studio.
While the Hardywood plan was approved without comment, a proposal from developer Hank Wilton for 191 single-family homes on 98 acres between Rockville and Manakin roads drew considerable opposition from residents and commission members alike.
A total of 24 residents spoke against the proposed development in a public hearing that lasted about two hours. Speakers noted concerns such as impacts to roads and project density, and commission members said they shared those concerns, ultimately voting unanimously to recommend denial to county supervisors.
That board is tentatively scheduled to consider the proposal at its meeting Dec. 1.
Hank Wilton is trying to push a plan for about 190 single-family homes through the Goochland Board of Supervisors.
Wilton’s request seeks a rezoning from agricultural to residential and planned unit development land uses. The request had been deferred from a meeting in October due to “significant public interest,” according to a county staff report.
An additional community meeting was held later that month that drew about 150 residents, who raised concerns about open space and inconsistency with the county’s recently adopted comprehensive plan, which recommends an average lot size of 1 acre for that area. The requested density for the project is two units per acre.
In September, Darvin Satterwhite, the attorney representing Wilton in the request, said the project would improve public safety in the area by including a needed connector road between Rockville and Manakin roads. But commissioners disagreed at Thursday’s public hearing, which drew a packed house and required some attendees to watch the meeting in overflow rooms.
District 1 commissioner John Myers said: “If we approve this, then we would have absolutely no basis to turn down future development which exceeded the density of the comprehensive plan. So conceivably in a few years we could really be in a precarious situation as far as schools and traffic and everything else.”