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Brewery with tap room proposed next to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium

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Rendering by Black Design Archit

Sketch provided by city of Hoove

Rendering by Black Design Archit

A Trace Crossings resident is seeking permission to put a brewery with a tap room and indoor and outdoor live entertainment on property next to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.

The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday night voted to recommend the City Council allow the development.

Trace Crossings resident Jamie Cato said he wants to put the two-story Brock’s Gap Brewing Co. with a tap room at the corner of Stadium Trace Parkway and Mineral Trace, right by the main entrance to the Hoover Met Stadium.

This is his first venture into the brewery business but plans to bring some world-class beer and quality events to the city of Hoover, he said. His brewmaster is Brian Watson, whom he said owns about 17 breweries and has won more than 100 international beer awards.

Several planning commissioners spoke in favor of the idea of a brewery on the site, which is zoned for “planned light industrial use,” but some expressed concerns about live and amplified outdoor entertainment being so close to residential neighborhoods, such as Abingdon, a new development planned across the parkway from the stadium in the Trace Crossings Village Center, and Chestnut Ridge on the hill above the Village Center.

“That sound carries a long, long distance,” planning commissioner Carl West said.

West said he was in favor of allowing the brewery with a tap room there, but noted that Abingdon is a neighborhood for people age 55 and older.

“I’m not trying to kill your project. I love it,” West said. “But we need to be smart about this. I think it’s going to be a potential problem.”

City Planner Mac Martin noted that the nearest residential property in Abingdon is more than 500 feet away from the area where outdoor music would be and that there is some tree buffer along Stadium Trace Parkway. Also, Brock’s Gap Brewing Co. plans to have the outdoor music performances on the loading dock at the back of the brewery, which is on the opposite side of the building from Stadium Trace Parkway. That should help with buffering the noise some, Martin said.

Cato agreed to limit the outdoor events to no more than two times per month, to cut off amplified outdoor music by 10 p.m. and all outdoor music by 11 p.m. Also, performances with amplified music would be limited to Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, holidays and special events.

Indoor live performances would be more regular but would be smaller acts, not big bands, Cato said.

Cato also agreed to hire off-duty Hoover police officers to provide security for outdoor events.

The planning commission also agreed to waive the requirement for a sidewalk along Stadium Trace Parkway because of topography of the site and instead wants to require Cato to put a sidewalk connection to the Hoover Met parking lot and a sidewalk leading to Stadium Trace Parkway at a traffic light that is to be installed at the main vehicle entrance to the Met.

Pedestrians would be able to cross Stadium Trace Parkway safely there to get to a sidewalk and commercial and residential developments across from the Met, Martin said.

Also, the planning commission said Brock’s Gap Brewing Co. would be required to reach an agreement with the Hoover Parks and Recreation Board to use the Hoover Met parking lot as overflow parking for events.

The Hoover City Council is expected to consider the request to allow the brewery, tap room and live entertainment on Nov. 16.

In other business Monday night, the zoning board:

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