Medina Planning Board OKs language for downtown wineries

MEDINA – After debating how to facilitate downtown wineries and breweries in recent months, the Village Planning Board has crafted language that would welcome those businesses, as well as distilleries, cideries and meaderies.

The village has been approached about wineries and breweries in the downtown. They currently aren’t prohibited, but the village code doesn’t say they are an allowed use in the Downtown Historic District, either.

The Planning Board is recommending they be allowed, although the owner of the businesses will need to secure a Special Use Permit. That will give the village more say in the operations.

The Planning Board also wants to see the businesses in the General Business District as well as the Light Industrial and Industrial Zones.

The Village Board will have the final say on the zoning change. The board will need to have a public hearing if the zoning is tweaked.

“More than one potential business has already expressed an interest in Medina as a location for a winery or brewery,” said Chris Busch, the Planning Board chairman. “More are expected to follow. With the recent expansion of the Niagara Wine Trail to the Rochester region, Medina is now situated in the middle of the trail and is seeking to take advantage of their new position.”

Busch said wineries, breweries and related businesses have been very successful in many parts of New York State, breathing new life into old buildings and helping to revive economies.

If the businesses get started in Medina, Busch said brewers may want locally grown hops which would be a boost to local agriculture.

In other action on Tuesday, the Planning Board:

Approved a Certificate of Appropriateness in the Downtown Historic District for renovations to the façade at 112-114 East Center Street.  Kathy Blackburn is changing the storefront façades to their original nineteenth century appearance. The storefronts will have new awnings, fresh paint and new signs.  An old-fashioned ice cream parlor is planned for the location.

Gave a courtesy review of a sign to be located at the new Medina Memorial Hospital helipad on Ohio Street in the village. No action was taken as none was required. The board said it appreciated the opportunity to see the sign prior to construction.