The Whitetooth Brewing Company took a big step forward last week as Town Council approved seven different variances for the proposed business.
“It’s been a pleasure to work on this proposal,” said Phil Armstrong, manager of development services for the Town of Golden. “What a great looking building they’re going to have here.”
Approvals for the craft brewery included a zoning amendment, a floodplain exemption, a variance for parking stalls (the requirement going from 38 down to 16), a liquor license (which will still need approval from the provincial liquor board), a sewer rate amendment, as well as shared agreements between the developer and the Town for “off-site works” such as sidewalks and improvements to 8th Avenue North and the laneway.
The next step for the developers will be the building permit, and eventually commencing construction.
“It’s probably the first new building in the downtown core in at least 25 years. I think Sobey’s was the last building constructed,” said Armstrong.
All approvals were passed unanimously with little discussion. Coun. Caleb Moss took that moment to commend staff on the hard work they put into finding “creative approaches” to help move development forward through a slew of regulations set by all levels of government.
“We’re trying to change a corporate culture to something that can be viewed as ‘open for business,'” said Moss. “I think that in all the variances that have come forward to council over the years, almost 100 per cent of them have been granted, which means that staff work hard to present something that is logical to council… So regardless of the frustration that developers run into, I’d like to point out that it is commendable that these eventually go through.”
The developers and many of their construction partners were in the gallery that night, as were several members of the community.
Manager of the Kicking Horse Country Chamber of Commerce Ruth Hamilton commented at the end of the meeting, “I thrilled to see this all go through. It’s going to be great for our downtown core.”
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