Patrons will hoof a half mile for craft whiskey.
So says a traffic consultant for Dismal Harmony, a distillery proposed for the former Cy’s Brakes at 77 Morris St. in Morristown.
The venture needs a variance because it lacks required parking. Corey Chase, a Chester engineer hired by the applicant, on Monday told the Morristown zoning board that Dismal Harmony’s shortfall can be accommodated easily by an adjacent municipal lot and the Dalton parking garage–about a half mile away on Cattano Avenue.
When pressed on that latter assertion by board member James Bednarz, Chase said patrons are likely to park at the garage and then amble to multiple establishments downtown.
They “are not going to drive from spot to spot to spot,” Chase contended.
Town zoning requires at least 15 parking spaces for the distillery, which can admit a maximum of 49 people to its proposed 738-square-foot tasting room.
After sharing four spaces with the Morristown Diner and creating one combined handicapped/after-hours loading space, Dismal Harmony still falls 10 spaces short.
A surfeit of spaces–at least 154 of them- always is available at the Dalton garage, Chase said, citing Morristown Parking Authority pre-pandemic data from 2018-19.
Municipal Lot 10, meanwhile, always boasts at least 12 vacant spaces, based on Chase’s counts last fall. He said his survey included a November night when Boyz to Men drew a big crowd to the nearby Mayo Performing Arts Center.
On most days, the traffic engineer claimed, the distillery will spawn fewer vehicle trips than did the brake shop, now dormant for around a dozen years. Saturdays will be the exception, when Dismal Harmony is likely to generate one trip every three minutes, Chase predicted during the two-and-a-half hour Zoom meeting.
The board also heard virtual testimony from architect Peter Morgan, civil engineer Dan Sehnal and Bob Dillon, the Mendham entrepreneur behind Dismal Harmony. (The project is named for two brooks that intersect in Mendham.) It was a special session devoted to this application.
Morgan described his design as “a pretty fail-safe system.” Ethanol, which is flammable and potentially explosive, is integral to the distilling process.
Tweaked plans now call for a closed-loop cooling system for the still. Demands on local water and sewers will be minimized by recycling the same 1,000 gallons of water, Morgan told the board.
Dillon has a federal distilling permit and needs another from the state. To legally patronize his tasting room, guests first must take a one-time tour. That can be as cursory as glancing at a poster of factoids and breezing through a self-guided walk of the premises, according to Dillon.
Although four outdoor dining tables are anticipated, patrons must bring their own food or order deliveries from local restaurants, Dillon noted.
Five board members logged in Monday, for a quorum. But Dismal Harmony attorney Larry Calli avoided pressing for a vote, stating that the absence of four other members — Scott Wild, Noelle Nish, Barbara McNally and Beth Wall–deprived his client of the necessary supermajority.
A third hearing is scheduled for next month.
How did Glenbrook Brewery get away with it? I’m not aware of any parking spaces their space is huge.
The other garages especially Dehart have been full up to the top level every weekend I’ve been there the past year as things started opening up. A short term revenue decline that the entire world experienced likely would not impact a muni bond or other debt issuance to fund the garage.
Last we heard they were conducting more studies to see if demand would return to pre-Covid levels, which especially seeing all the new developments requiring parking and the demand return, should not be a question anymore.
If they want to get even more creative, make the top level of the parking garage with rooftop restaurants, market, small urban park combination, etc., and collect rent from those places. How cool would a rooftop setting be like that in town? A HQ plaza park with greenspace surrounded by food places/shops on top of a 4 story parking deck.
The Parking Authority whos best laid plans to build a Lot 10 Garage were halted by the fallout from COVID. The agency probably suffered a substantial decrease in revenue during the year long pandemic and now has to regain that financial footing before they can proceed with any major project.
Don’t forget the Parking Authority is self sustaining and does not use any public tax or funds.
Let’s also see the impact of the M-Station project as that has a parking component as well.
Huh? this is right in the downtown area where thousands of people walk to every day / week. Of course they would walk to it. And there’s also Uber…
These parking requirements for downtown business are continually absurd. And where is that parking garage that was suppose to be right behind here? Town still suffering from analysis paralysis on that one while the other garages are packed on weekend nights.