A farm alcohol production facility shall comply with the following requirements.
(1) The facility shall be located on a farm of at least 10 acres and shall be operated by the farm owner or farm manager.
(2) The farm upon which the facility is located shall produce at least one acre of grain, hops, fruit, or other ingredient, excluding water that is utilized to produce alcohol. For a facility that produces mead, at least one acre of land on the farm upon which the facility is located shall be used to nourish a colony of bees.
(3) Except as provided in paragraph (i) or (ii), the minimum setback from any lot line for any building or storage facility used in connection with farm alcohol production shall be 100 feet.
(i) For existing structures used in connection with alcohol manufacturing or tastings, the setback may be reduced to 50 feet if the Planning and Zoning Officer finds that the reduced setback is compatible with surrounding uses; or
(ii) For a farm bounded by a road, the minimum setback from the lot line to a new structure adjacent to the road may be reduced to 50 feet if the Planning and Zoning Officer finds that the reduced setback is compatible with surrounding uses.
(4) The floor area for tastings, sale of alcohol produced on-site or accessory non-alcoholic beverage or food sales may not exceed the floor area being used for production and storage of alcohol.
(5) The facility shall front upon a public road, and public access to and from the facility, including the tasting room, food sales, and promotional events, shall be directly on the public road. No point of vehicular access may be closer than 40 feet to the lot line of a residentially zoned property that is not part of the farm alcohol production facility. The Planning and Zoning Officer may approve access through a private road where no direct access onto a public road is feasible with conditions as follows:
(i) Maintenance of the private road shall be subject to a shared maintenance agreement, with proportional maintenance responsibilities assumed by the owner of the farm alcohol production facility; and
(ii) If there is more than one property owner who has a right to use the private road, the owner of the farm alcohol production facility shall provide affidavits of support from each owner. The affidavits shall be approved as to form by the Planning and Zoning Officer prior to signature.
(6) A facility located on a scenic and historic road shall comply with the provisions of § 17-6-504 of this Code and mitigate any adverse visual impact to abutting property not owned by the farm operator.
(7) Parking areas shall be clearly marked through physical means such as timbers, fences, or stakes, and shall be arranged to avoid traffic congestion on public roads. No parking shall be allowed on public or private rights-of-way.
(Bill No. 68-20; Bill No. 90-20; Bill No. 2-21; Bill No. 81-22; Bill No. 15-23)