Grass Valley officials to consider 1849 Brew Pub proposal on Tuesday

The City of Grass Valley planning commission will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 21, to consider a brewery, wine tasting room and outdoor beer garden in the empty space where The Union used to print its community newspaper before outsourcing the printing to the Sacramento Bee.

The 1849 Brew Pub at 464 Sutton Way— previously reported here — will include an outdoor beer garden area, a pizza oven, a 20-foot tall grain silo. Soft rock and live music will play inside the pub on weekends, the application said.

The applicant is Grass Valley resident David Krikorian, the project owner is listed as Nevada County Publishing Co., the contractor is listed as Keoni Allen of Sierra Foothills Construction, and the architect is Deer Creek Studio of Nevada City. “The applicant is requesting approval of a use permit to operate a brewpub,” according to the staff memo. “The applicant plans to occupy about 5,387 square feet of the existing building.” Staff recommends that the use permit be approved. The staff report is here.

Krikorian said he would be leasing the brewery from the newspaper publisher. His son, Kevin, will be the brewmaster in the 15-barrel brewery. The brewery and taproom plans to offer a wide choice of beers: IPAs, pale ale, light and dark ale, stout and lager beers.

The project is considered exempt from the provisions of CEQA, according to the report. The City said it is not aware of any land use conflicts or environmental impacts associated with brew-pubs and breweries in Nevada City and Auburn.

In 2004, the Grass Valley Planning Commission approved a 5,316 square-foot expansion of the newspaper building at this location — but not a brewery.

“Over the past few years, the paper production of the newspapers has moved to Sacramento, leaving a portion of the building empty,” the staff report said.

Newspapers are outsourcing their printing to larger publications to cut costs. Meanwhile, craft breweries are booming all across America. Grass Valley elected officials have been seeking to bring a brewery to town — noticing the success in Nevada City with ol’ Republic and Three Forks.

Krikorian has proposed the Grass Valley Brewery east of downtown Grass Valley. But he dropped his plans amid a zoning controversy on property where the brewery was to be located.

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