StillFire Brewery Deal Approved By Smyrna City Council Following Heated Town Hall

SMYRNA, GA — After months of public meetings, debate and at least one petition, Smyrna City Council approved a deal for StillFire Brewing to build a brewery in downtown Smyrna, but with a series of stipulations based on public feedback.

The brewery — which will be a second location of Suwanee-based StillFire — would take up 1 acre between Atlanta Road and the Smyrna Community Center, with a remaining 0.6 acres kept by the city and used to build a park beside the brewery.

The deal, approved in a 5-2 vote, included the $600,000 sale of the 1-acre portion to StillFire with the proceeds going toward the park. Charles "Corky" Welch and Susan Wilkinson voted against the deal, bringing up several concerns such as a lack of stipulations in regard to the future park; a lack of transparency in the process of bringing the brewery to the city; and the location of the brewery.

"My integrity, my accountability to my constituents and my support of the Smyrna Code of Ethics is more important than supporting a plan to sell of public land to an unknown entity and a plan I believe is breaching the public's trust in us and diminishes the power of the citizens to determine the future of our city," Wilkinson said before the vote.

However, Mayor Derek Norton and other members of council like Mayor Pro Tem Tim Gould said they support the brewery for economic development reasons. At a town hall meeting in December, Andrea Worthy, Smyrna's economic development director, said downtown needs more foot traffic for those businesses — both existing and future ones — to stay open.

"Speaking frankly to you as our economic development director, our downtown needs additional visitors to the area to be successful," Worthy said at the time.

The brewery has also caused division among Smyrna residents, with at least 100 of them packing City Hall for the brewery town hall last month to vocalize both support and opposition for the brewery, as well as the process the city took to bring it to downtown.

Several dozen residents were also in attendance at Tuesday's meeting, clapping and cheering for whomever they agreed with.

Read more: Proposed Downtown Brewery Divides Smyrna Residents

Some residents were concerned about an increase in crime and DUIs; others were concerned about the possibility of an industrial appearance to the brewery, which wouldn't match the rest of downtown; and some were concerned about noise and light pollution.

But most voiced concerns over the brewery's location, calling it inappropriate given its proximity to a major road and the Smyrna Community Center and saying that even with stipulations on what can be done with the land if StillFire leaves, it would be too expensive for the city to buy back in the future.

In response to public feedback, StillFire and the city made several changes to the original plan, including:

• A food concept, just not a sit-down restaurant, will be at StillFire permanently.
  • In the original plan, a food truck rotation was planned so there would be food options for brewery visitors — this is still in the plan approved Tuesday, but StillFire added plans for a permanent food concept such as a pizza oven so there would always be food on-site.
• StillFire reduced the original concept plan to two stories from three.
• Several provisions were added to the contract, including a right of first refusal provision, if StillFire tried to flip and sell the property; deed restrictions; zoning restrictions; and a provision that would allow the city to buy back the property if StillFire does not complete its side of the contract within a certain time frame.

Bringing the brewery to Smyrna is part of the city's larger effort to revitalize downtown. Council already approved a $6.5 million downtown redesign plan, with future plans for another three-story, multimillion-dollar parking deck north of downtown.

StillFire plans to start construction in spring 2022 and have it completed by spring 2023.

SEE ALSO:

• Smyrna Downtown Redesign Approved After Months Of Debate
• Smyrna Downtown Redesign Could Cost $1M Less Than Anticipated
• Smyrna Sets 3 Public Input Meetings For Downtown Redesign
• New Details Unveiled For Smyrna Downtown Redevelopment
• $6.5M Downtown Redesign Approved By Smyrna City Council
• Downtown Smyrna Makeover Is In The Works