By Theresa-Marie Wilson
Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company in Arroyo Grande is already bustling with customers after a soft opening on June 30. In a special meeting held that same evening, the city council discussed possibly appealing the planning commissions approval of unexpected exterior changes to the building.
“We can not allow builders and developers to do things willy-nilly, and expect to just be forgiven, because the process at that point and time clearly falls apart,” said Councilman Tim Brown who requested the meeting. “If we allow this to go on we are setting precedence.”
After a meeting that lasted less than and hour, there was no motion to support the “substantial conformance” appeal made by Brown, therefore no public hearing will be held.
“We are really trying to make an effort to comply with the things that were mandated in the planning commission’s meeting,” said project builder Terry Bottenfield. “We want to express our willingness to make this thing work for everybody as best as we possible can. You had a building that was sitting there for a long time; it’s a pretty decent looking piece down there right now, and I’m sure it going to be a nice addition to the east end of Grand.”
The microbrewery and restaurant is part of the Arroyo Town and Country Square, more commonly known as the Smart-and-Final Center. The building in question is the approximately 6,300 square-foot commercial building previously occupied by Applebee’s.
The Planning Commission approved the microbrewery and restaurant with facade modifications to the existing building in May of 2014 and then approved updated alterations in June of this year.
Changes included painting the exterior, installing weathered corrugated steel awnings above all windows and installing one roll-up door in a window on the north side.
A planned sign proposal was also approved for four signs totaling about 256 square feet.
An inspection of the construction site in May of this year revealed potential modifications from the approved building plans. The project contractor asked that the changes be approved. The Architectural Review Committee recommended approving all of the changes except one. The ARC said that the northern sign should be reduced by about 16 square feet to the to approved size of 64.92 square feet.
Three people spoke in favor of upholding the sign ordinance.
“I believe we need to have some standards for all businesses in the city,” said Patty Welsh of Arroyo Grande. “It seems as though we have guidelines but they mean nothing if a business is allowed to chose how they want to do things and the city just goes along with it.”
Bottenfield said the increase in sign size was not intended.
“It was more of a mistake that came about with the signage company not following through,” said Bottenfield. “They have a $17,000 sign up that there right now that proportionately does look pretty decent on the front and the back side of that building.”
Beatrice Spencer, who along with her husband John, own Spencer’s Fresh Markets, one of which used to be located in the same center said the oversized sign is not the city’s responsibility.
“The fact that it was constructed without following the specks, I think, should be the responsibility of whoever made the sign to make it right,” she said. “It shouldn’t be the city’s responsibility to accept and go against their own policy.”
A prominent feature of the building is a 20-foot tall functional grain tower. The shiny metal structure, originally approved patina, is also raised above ground with a mesh screen rather than mounted to the ground as originally proposed.
“Based on my research, it is safe to say that what was approved at planning commission doesn’t match the building plans,” Brown said. “They are separate. I am particularly talking about the tank. The rendering by the architect that was approved by the planning commission shows a totally different tank than the one that is there.”
The plans did differ, in fact, from what is in place as far as the model number of the silo and elevation details.
Welsh also questioned the safety of the silo, which has a ladder going up the side, as well as other elements of the project that were not on the approved plans.
“I think this project needs to be seriously looked at,” she said.
Bottenfield said that a solution to the issue has been agreed upon with city building inspectors.
“We are going to address the ladder issue,” said Bottenfield. “We are going to move that ladder. You won’t even see the ladder. It will be a system that’s on the roof that will flop over when they do need to get up there and access that grain silo.”
Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co was established in 2010 by father and son Jim and Jaime Dietenhofer. The Arroyo Grande location marks the fifth microbrewery and restaurant. Other taprooms are located in Santa Maria, Los Olivos, Buellton and Santa Barbara.
“This one is pretty unique,” said Bottenfield. “This is the prototype of this concept where they have the restaurant/brewery package going in there. This is pretty much a first.”
Grand Opening festivities will be held July 10-12. Check them out at 1462 E. Grand Ave. Arroyo Grande. They are open Monday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The kitchen serving American cuisine is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and last call is at 10:30 p.m.
