Two and a half years since Texarkana, Texas, voted for retail beer and wine sales, zoning rules have been updated to accommodate alcoholic beverage production in the city.

The Texas-side City Council voted April 10 to add definitions of brewery, microbrewery, distillery, microdistillery and winery to the city's zoning ordinance and establish where such businesses can operate.

Alcohol production is allowed and regulated under state and federal law, so the city's move did not make anything legal that had previously been prohibited. It did provide specific local guidelines for beverage-makers.

They previously would have been zoned under the closest category, food manufacturing, said David Orr, city director of planning and community development. With entrepreneurs starting to approach the city about alcohol production, planners moved to ensure any such business would be properly placed.

The ordinance defines microbreweries and microdistilleries as being up to 15,000 square feet. They and wineries that size may operate in the city's Central Business, Commercial, Industrial 1 and Industrial 2 zones. Breweries and distilleries are defined as being larger than than 15,000 square feet. They and wineries that size are restricted to Industrial 1 and Industrial 2.

Though the door to alcohol production in town is now open, for different reasons two local men in the beer and wine business will not be walking through.

The new zoning rules will not affect Summerhill Winery because it is a distributor, not a producer, owner Fay J. Durant said. At age 80, he has no plans to begin the years-long process of getting a vineyard started, instead focusing on wholesaling for three established vineyards.

Nor will the new rules affect Redbone Magic Brewing Co., the brewpub Roger Sheppard plans to open within a year near Texas Boulevard and West 14th Street. Sheppard chose to operate under federal law for brew pubs rather than those for breweries so he can do business as a retailer, not a wholesaler. That means 51 percent of his sales must be food or other non-alcohol items and the business will therefore be zoned as a restaurant.

"The brewery part was what I was really wanting to do, but you cannot sell anything that goes out the door in a brewery. In a brew pub, you have the same ability to manufacture alcohol, but you can sell it out the door. So as a brew pub, I can sell growlers, I can sell six-packs, I can sell kegs that'll walk out the door. But as a brewery, I can only manufacture and sell across my counter," he said.

Sheppard plans a 10-barrel beermaking operation that will produce 310 gallons per brew. He will distribute kegs to tap outlets and eventually start producing canned beer to be sold in convenience stores such as E-Z Mart. He said he looks forward to bringing more variety to local beer-lovers.

Read more at source Texarkana Gazette