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I am meeting with local officials about zoning for my micro distillery. The passage of a micro or craft distillery law is relatively recent in Illinois. Most zoning ordinances dont account for the changes. Does anyone have any sample language that I would like to share?

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Did the law make any specific mention of zoning for the Craft Distillery? If it did, you will have to address that directly. Where I am doing my start up in Iowa, I talked with my fire marshall and he told me I need an F1 small factory. This gave me the ability to have up to 240 gallons in process. That is out of the still waiting to be barreled or bottle etc. If I need to have more than the 240 it would move me up to a hazardous material manufacturer. I would give your fire marshall a call and see what he thinks before you meet with anyone else. They will likely acquiesce to his decisions. Hope that helps.

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I am meeting with local officials about zoning for my micro distillery. The passage of a micro or craft distillery law is relatively recent in Illinois. Most zoning ordinances dont account for the changes. Does anyone have any sample language that I would like to share?

Get in touch with me, and we can discuss. We were able to work things out in advance with our locals, they had to create a new permit and change zoning laws for us specifically. They also had to hire a consultant to do the code review, and they ended up treating the bonded area as F1, as suggested by Rickdiculous. There are some real coordination issues between the local, the state of Illinois, and the TTB that make interpretation of space usage and type not so obvious.

We are in a small suburb outside of Chicago.

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In the INTERNATIONAL FIRE CODE, to which most municipalities subscribe, there is the following with regard to storage of "hazardous materials":

2701.1 Scope. Prevention, control and mitigation of dangerous conditions related to storage, dispensing, use and handling of hazardous materials shall be in accordance with this chapter.

This chapter shall apply to all hazardous materials, including those materials regulated elsewhere in this code, except that when specific requirements are provided in other chapters, those specific requirements shall apply in accordance with the applicable chapter. Where a material has multiple hazards, all hazards shall be addressed.

Exceptions: (including)

9. The storage of distilled spirits and wines in wooden barrels and cask

Local zoning may vary where the authorities have taken spirits production into consideration, but in most cases where you're the first one at the gate, the community may not have addressed the question and may have the perception it is much more dangerous than the Fed or International fire authorities feel it is.

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I agree with my neighbor Ralph to the North. Our local municipality here in Pennsyltucky didn't really know from which direction to come at this because the fire code (IFC 2009) as it is written leaves a fair bit open to interpretation. We settled on the a F-1 classification based on us having a MAQ (maximum allowable quantity) of less than 120 gallons onsite which is fine for us....for now at least. Spirits aging in barrels also not counting against our 120 gallons. Of more importance to me is our Township's willingness or more likely and hopefully, unwillingness to fight our State's recent legislation (Pa HB 242) that allows for onsite sales. There is no provision for both the manufacture and retail sale of products in our Industrial Zone in our local zoning ordinance so I'm feeling as though I may be pushing for a local zoning regulation amendment based on the fact that the State now makes provisions for both manufacture and sale of spirits while our current zoning doesn't address this "Mixed use" type operation.

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Hewnspirits - Would you not be able to just seek a zoning variance for your specific usage and location rather than trying to get existing regulation amended? That seems to be the common approach in my Pennsyltucky municipality..

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Hi Hedge......You are correct about a variance but in speaking to our zoning officer and attorney, they both agree that it might make more sense to amend the zoning regs so that the abilty to lawfully conduct both manufacturing and retail operations is allowed and clearly defined now that HB 242 has passed....More for those that follow and not just us. I guess it's also the "But the system is wrong...lets fix it" guy in me. We're still going to initially go the variance route out of a sense of observation to protocol but wanted to be ready should the powers at be not see it the same way we do.

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