Taproom in Sandwich faces stormy seas, brewery in Deerfield smoother sailing
The taproom in Sandwich faces stormy seas and the brewery in Deerfield offers smoother sailing
| correspondent
Daniel J. Bailey III and the Sandwich residents he represents don't care that they're some of the biggest buzzkills in the state.
An angry sea of critics awaited them in attempting to shut down one of the world's most popular breweries to open a beach oasis. But Bailey said his customers had no problem with Tree House Brewing Co.'s business, just the way sandwich officials handled the Charlton Brewery's proposed taproom, beer garden, and retail store on Town Neck Beach.
"I was expecting it," said the Boston attorney of the backlash. “I've talked to my customers about it. We understand it's a very popular brand and locale. This is not about Tree House: this is a business owner and city that is zoning and wetland regulations. "
Bailey, who represents four families who live near Tree House's new Cape House, has sparked a series of legal challenges to halt construction on the site and force the city to look back at the project. Tree House has not been subjected to the same scrutiny from sandwich boards and officials as other companies, he argued, raising issues with the project the city should have brought up with its first review.
Bailey has appealed the city's decision to give Tree House a license to build the taproom. His claims include that the site's zoning does not allow for a taproom, restaurant only, or drive-through services similar to Tree House's model of takeaway beer sales. The shortage of parking spaces is the biggest problem, he said. The city's Board of Appeal will hold a public hearing on his appeal later this month.
Last week, Bailey also sent a letter to the Sandwich Conservation Commission, the Massachusetts Department of Environment, and MassWildlife advising them that renovations to the building near sand dunes were violating city wetland regulations and wetland laws, among other things and may violate the city's endangered species. The Conservation Commission was due to meet on Wednesday to discuss the letter.
As a last resort to stop the project, Bailey said he would go to the Land Court in Boston.
Sheltered dunes and food service issues aside, the real reason Bailey's clients want the Tree House project to stop is because of the congestion. Feeling like they found out too late about the brewery's plans to move in next door, they realize they may have missed the opportunity to share their concern about the traffic that will drop onto their quiet Cape Strait.
Wherever the tree house goes, crowds follow. The brewery performed nearly 900,000 check-ins at Untappd in the past year, second only to the multinational brewery and pub chain BrewDog in Scotland.
"Your concern is with a company with 500 employees and absolutely inadequate on-site parking," Bailey said of his customers. "The traffic jams and parking in the neighborhood will overwhelm them."
While I and the few others who read this column would likely react differently than Tree House as a neighbor, I can see some people object.
So far, there has only been one public hearing for the Tree House taproom - on April 15, the Board of Selectmen gave Tree House a farmer's casting run and entertainment license during a Zoom meeting - and I understand these residents may perceive this as a Lack of transparency.
According to the Cape Cod Times, another Sandwich resident has filed a complaint about an open assembly law. A connection issue with Zoom during the Chosen One's meeting resulted in him missing parts of the Tree House presentation and preventing him from making his comments on the taproom.
Tree House's response so far has been that it will control traffic to the taproom by working closely with the Sandwich Police Department and managing vehicle flow through its online ordering system, where customers choose time slots to pick up their beer and later design cards for the taproom and the beer garden. For parking, the brewery will have an external car park and a shuttle service.
Neither of these assurances has reassured its neighbors, however, and it doesn't help that Tree House has not yet addressed their concerns directly, save for a few brief responses to questions about a Zoom call. The brewery never says more than necessary and mostly controls its image with carefully worked out statements.
Just trust Tree House to know what it is doing, that its leaders have been proven to be some of the most conscientious brewery owners in the state.
But in this case, maybe they should invite the families to the brewery and convince them of their plans for beer instead of leaving everything to city officials and their lawyers.
The Deerfield Brewery is accelerating to opening in June
In Deerfield, Tree House has a slightly different reaction to its proposed brewery in the former home of Channing Bete Co., a popular publisher that closed in 2019. The planned brewery - on a 45 hectare site off routes 5 and 10 - was cheered on by practically everyone in the Pioniertal.
Tree House carried out the project in three phases, starting with a brewery and retail store where customers can pick up beer, and ending with phases two and three of a distillery, restaurant and concert hall. According to the permits, the brewery must return to the city officials before starting work on the final stages.
The brewery has made itself popular in the city by opening the building to a COVID-19 vaccination clinic and allowing the school system to store some of their extra furniture that had to be removed from the classrooms to allow social distancing.
Instead of legal challenges and disturbed neighbors, there was rave reviews.
"It was amazing and Tree House didn't even open," said Carolyn Shores Ness, chairwoman of the selectmen. “We are very happy to welcome you. You were really wonderful. "
Tree House's drive-through-to-go operations in western Massachusetts will be both massive and efficient. For example, the only major renovation to the outside of the building is a portico that comfortably fits under six cars while waiting for their beer. And the website has already shown that it can handle a large number of people driving in and out: 700 people went through during the vaccination clinic.
Shores Ness expects the tree house to open next month.
"They're going pretty fast," she said.
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