It just got a bit easier to start a farm microbrewery in the Municipality of West Hants.
Council voted unanimously in favour of amending the municipality’s land use bylaw at a regular monthly meeting Oct. 9 to permit farm microbreweries producing no more than 200,000 litres of beer a year to operate on land zoned for agricultural use.
Lynn Davis, the director of planning for West Hants, explained the theory behind imposing a production limit at a public hearing scheduled the same night as the council meeting.
“The amendment would treat microbreweries the same way… that we treat farm wineries except that there is a limit on production,” she said.
“There is no such limit on farm wineries and the reason for putting the limit on microbreweries is because farm wineries are quite limited by the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission regulations.”
Alan Bailey of Meander River Farm, an Ashdale-based family owned and operated farm that harvests hops among other commodities, was present for the public hearing inspired by an application he submitted to the Municipality of West Hants.
None of the six spectators seated in the gallery, or the municipal council members, spoke against the requested amendment.
