Brewery Plan Gets Applause from Commission

The iconic old hotel on the corner of Sixth and Northampton streets is finally about to get a new life, and it's largely based on old traditions.

Taking the first official steps towards a planned opening for around February of next year, the new owner of the former Mount Vernon Alehouse, College Hill Cosmic Cup Coffee owner Troy Reynard was granted a special exception for parking and a variance for a food processing use by the Easton Planning Commission Wednesday evening.

Reynard, along with his wife Cathy and business partner Brad Nelson, plan to open a restaurant that will serve in-house brewed craft beers on the first two stories of the building including on the second floor balcony, with small museum dedicated to the history of local brewing on the third floor. A conference area, along with offices will take up the majority of the rest of the third and fourth floors, and the brewing facility will occupy the south portion of the old hotel from the ground to the fourth floors architectural plans show.

The use requires a special exception from the city requirement of 44 off-street parking spaces to be provided with the restaurant. Reynard testified that he's leased 20 spaces in a nearby lot owned by Dykes Lumber, and requested the requirement for the remainder be waived, a move that was supported by city planning officials.

“Were we to enforce that requirement strictly, you wouldn't see a single business in Downtown,” said city planner Brian Gish.

While Reynard said he plans to lease parking for the restaurant regardless of the requirements, city officials suggested that when the matter comes up before the city's zoning hearing board next month he ask for relief from providing all 44 spaces, not just the 24 remaining. That way, they said, should the current off-street agreement ever change, the business would not be impaired by no longer being in compliance with the conditions for its zoning approval.

The variance for food-processing is to allow the brewing operation, a use that is not entirely new to the property, as Easton's Weyerbacher Brewing Company formerly occupied the space about a decade ago.

Reynard said his brewing operation will be less intensive than Weyerbacher's since Two Rivers Brewing Company will only be producing beers for the on-site restaurant, and unpleasant odors shouldn't be a problem for neighbors.

“It smells a lot like bread,” he said. “The actual brewing process will be on the second floor...We're going to be brewing about twice a week.”

Reynard said too, production brewing, to be done by a professional brew master from Allentown, will probably commence by next summer, several months after the planned restaurant opening, which is scheduled for February if all goes as planned.

The museum space, dedicated to the history of brewing in Easton, will feature artifacts from former Easton breweries Kuebler, Seitz and Bushkill, Reynard said, though it and the conference and office spaces will be finished later.

The few members of the public that were present all spoke in favor of the plan for the new establishment, with one commenting that the unique mid-19^th century exterior of the building, the site of Easton's very first connected telephone, looks like it belongs in a movie.

“It was in a movie!” replied about half the room in unison, referring to the building's use in the 1999 film The Florentine, which was shot in and around Easton.

Speaking finally in support of the idea on behalf of the city's planning department, Gish said, “The review states the plan in a very sterile way. In a less sterile way, we love the idea.”

Upon the commission's unanimous approval of both the special exception and the use variance, the room burst into applause.

Planning officials, along with planning commission member Dennis Lieb, who has made a study of urban parking issues, said they would be attending the zoning hearing on the matter in support of Two Rivers Brewing Company as well.

Once up and running, the restaurant expects to be open daily from 11:30 a.m. to midnight, and will employ between 10 and 15 people at first, with the possibility of adding more later, Reynard said, adding that he's looking forward to making the plan a reality as soon as possible.

“We can't wait,” he said.