USA, WI: Lake Mills Plan Commission approves conditional use request for Houblon Brewing Company

The city of Lake Mills Plan Commission unanimously approved a conditional use request by Lane and Sherry Smith for a new brewery in the downtown business district at its latest meeting on March 28 at City Hall, hngnews.com reported on March 31.

The new brewery, Houblon Brewing Company, plans to move into a two-story building at 121 S. Main St. in downtown Lake Mills, maintaining a tasting room and brewery on the first floor and an apartment on the second floor.

Houblon’s conditional use permit request will now go in front of the Lake Mills City Council at its meeting April 18 for final approval.

There are five questions the brewery had to meet for its conditional use permit to be approved, which are:

• Is the conditional use in harmony with the policies and standards of the city’s comprehensive plan?

• Does the conditional use result in adverse impacts to adjacent properties?

• Is the conditional use consistent with land uses for the property?

• Is the proposed conditional use in an area that won’t impose undue burden on any of the improvements, facilities, utilities or services provided by public agencies serving the property?

• Do the potential benefits outweigh any adverse effects?

Lake Mills City Planner Dustin Wolff said the condition use permit request met all the questions asked by the city.

In fact, the city has worked to change its zoning ordinances to allow for a brewery in the downtown business district. The city began making those changes in December 2016 and finally brought an ordinance change before the city council at its meeting March 21.

“All the zoning code amendments have been leading up to this to allow breweries or related activities in the downtown area,” City planner Dustin Wolff said. “The conditional use is for the brewery. The second-floor apartments are permitted in the downtown district and are encouraged.”

Wolff said Houblon isn’t required to have a specific parking location as patrons are expected to park in the available spaces in downtown and walk to the brewery.

Lane and Sherry are also planning a series of improvements for the sides of the buildings but haven’t indicated to the city when those would be done.

Attorney Jay Smith, representing Houblon Brewing Company, said the only thing his clients weren’t clear on were the requirement of non-visible garbage containers in the rear of the building.

“It appears there is a shared dumpster back there,” Smith said. “It doesn’t seem like all the restaurants there don’t have their own, so we weren’t sure why we needed to have one, when those other businesses probably produce more waste.”

Smith also indicated the brewery wouldn’t operate like a tavern, as it would close much earlier than taverns do – the expected closing time for Houblon on an average night is 10 p.m.

“That’s not to say they might not want to run later, but initially, they’ll be closing a lot earlier than a tavern,” Smith said.

Main Street Program Director Katie Otto said the addition of Houblon Brewing Company to the downtown area would be a great thing for Lake Mills.

“It would bring people in from outside of the community, getting them into our restaurants and stores,” Otto said. “It would bring more awareness to Lake Mills.”

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