The Montgomery village board approved two local laws on Feb 5, impacting the City Winery and Kings Service Holding, Inc. (KSH) projects.

Introductory Local Law No. Two of 2018 authorized the zoning map to approve a Planned Development District (PDD) for the 20-acre property on which City Winery plans to build a winery and event space, bringing the project one step closer to approval.

The PDD was enacted with several stipulations regulating City Winery’s hours of operation. The year-round hours of operation for the restaurant, indoor cafes, tasting rooms and retail will be from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Fridays. Other weekdays from 4 to 10 p.m. may be added if there is local demand and prior village board approval.

The PDD also limits hours for outdoor music entertainment to between 1 and 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays; music is limited to jazz, folk, classical and other similar types of musical entertainment. This is meant to limit potential nuisance noise, a concern many neighbors of the project brought up.

Village attorney Kevin Dowd said the hours of operation and other stipulations in the PDD are meant to protect village residents from potential nuisances the business might create.

The village board has praised this project for its use of a historic space.

“This will revitalize a historic property that has not been kept up in the greatest of shape,” Dowd said.
Project attorney Joe Catalano said the noise hours will become a part of zoning code because they have been stipulated in the PDD. If the applicant breaks the hours, the village can issue penalties such as fines or a stop work order.

Catalano said the project will not contribute to improvements on Factory Street, as several residents called for over its proximity to three schools, because the main hours of the restaurant and associated customer service operations will be on weekends and after school hours.

City Winery will hold a public hearing at the next village planning board meet on Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at village hall, where it could receive final approval.

Founder and CEO Michael Dorf said he hopes to have the winery operational between August and October 2019.

The village board also passed Local Law No. Three of 2018, which will impact the KSH Route 211 Development by erasing the Senior District Overlay fronting Route 211 and requiring that the Senior Citizen Development Overlay Districts front Route 17K.

The KSH project proposal contains two warehouses and two affordable senior housing buildings with 80 one-bedroom units along Route 211.

The previous Senior Citizen Development Overlay law allows districts that front 17K or 211 to be created.