Belleville Planners OK microbrewery as home occupation on Wabash

Two teachers received approval from the Belleville Planning Commission to set up a microbrewery in their detached garage and operate it as a home occupation. They plan to call it “3 Ring.”
Melissa Zemper (also known as Eli Zemper) said she and her husband Drew bought the home at 74 E. Wabash Ave. after it had gone through foreclosure and they rehabbed the home.
She said it is at the end of a dead-end street and backs up to the feed mill property. The house next door is zoned residential, but the buildings at the end of the block and behind are zoned commercial.
She said they plan to brew fewer than 1,000 barrels annually for commercial distribution. She said that is the legal cap for their microbrew category, but they plan fewer barrels.
“We both are school teachers with 10-month-old twins,” Zemper said.
They will have no tap room on the property, she said. In the future they might look into setting up a tap room somewhere.
The couple asked for special land use under home occupations for R-2 zoning.
The house is 1,256 square feet in size and she estimates the now-vacant garage as about 500 square feet.
Zemper said she needed the city to approve the project so she can get federal approval, as well.
Zemper said she had researched the project in great detail. She said the five-gallon soda canisters will fit in their minivan for their deliveries. There will be no additional traffic and there will be no sign.
They will outfit the garage so they can brew in there and store the product. It will be climate-controlled, she said, and noted the federal government will come out to make sure everything is being done right.
Commissioner John Juriga said there would be no danger to the neighborhood, but there will be the sweetness of barley and hops in the air.
She said her only neighbor said that would not be a problem.
She said they got approval to have a microbrewery at the old VFW on Michigan Avenue, but that didn’t work out.
“I think Belleville could do well with a microbrewery … if we get enough positive response. The beer industry is very competitive,” Zemper said.
She said they want to “dial in” three or four beers.
She said she and her husband Drew teach in a high school – Washtenaw Technical Middle College — inside Washtenaw Community College. She said he teaches chemistry and she teaches English and that’s why she is the spokesperson for the project.
She told the commissioners that they brew outside now.
Zemper said they want to run a brewery with an educational focus, with a rotating student tap.
She said Michigan is No. 6 in the nation for microbrewery and microbreweries attract beer tourism dollars.
“Every local dollar touches six hands before it leaves,” she stated.
Zemper said millennials don’t have a lot of money, but they treat themselves to inexpensive things such as beer.
As far as being inspected by the federal, state, and local governments, she said she’s used to being investigated. She said as a school teacher she’s been fingerprinted seven times.
She said she knows that they will have to keep scrupulous records. There is a $6.32 excise tax per barrel collected quarterly, but there was some confusion over whether that was a state or federal tax.
In her application, Zemper wrote: “Distribution of beer to local establishments will generate economic development for local businesses and attract more consumers to area.”
Commissioner Juriga made the motion to approve the special-use permit and the rest of the commission seconded the motion in unison. It was unanimously approved.
Zemper thanked them and excused herself from the meeting to go put her twins to bed.
In other business at the half-hour meeting, the commissioners agreed to have a long discussion on the proposed Master Plan update at the next meeting, which is July 13. Because of all the meetings and comment periods involved, it was suggested the public hearing on the Master Plan would not come until September or October.
City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said she recently met with Wayne County Executive Warren Evans’ chief of staff and he asked her what keeps her up at night. She said she told him that would be the Belleville Road Bridge. She said the sidewalks were caving into the road and that was county property.
She said he asked if the bridge was compromised and Kollmeyer said she told him she didn’t know, but you can see the rebar.
Commissioner Kelly Bates said the other day she saw people in yellow vests and hard hats out on the bridge. It looked like they were inspecting the bridge.