EGGED ON TO SUCCESS
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AUGUST 13, 2018 | VOL. 54, No. 33
YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS
westfaironline.com
Area microbreweries sometimes face food fight BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com
T ‘Barracuda’ winner page 12
Ken Pond and his wife, Tori, co-own Craft & Sprout, a manufacturer of tiny homes in Greenwich that won the inaugural Barracuda Tank Competition.
Absent economic development staff, Westport redoubling marketing efforts BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com
Westport’s Operations Director Sara Harris.
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o dedicated economic development staff? No problem — or so those overseeing such efforts in Westport say. “The three of us are working hard in this area,” said Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker, referring to herself, First Selectman Jim Marpe and Operations Director Sara Harris. “It’s something we would be doing in our jobs anyway — working to understand the needs of our business community.” Harris is essentially the point person on economic development, having understood that would be part of
the town’s operations when she took the director position last July. “We’re in a unique situation,” Harris said. “We don’t have a lot of undeveloped land or commercial stock, so the typical economic development approach doesn’t always work here. What I’m doing is researching what could work for Westport as far as promoting the vitality of the commercial industry that we have.” Westport’s position as one of the nation’s wealthiest municipalities can be both a plus and a drawback. It ranks 22nd in Bloomberg’s “America’s 100 Richest Places,” with its average household income in 2015 of » WESTPORT
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hat the explosion of microbreweries in the area has required changes in some towns’ zoning ordinances has been well documented. But plans by some businesses to offer their patrons something to eat have also faced municipal hurdles. Call it food-truck phobia. “Food trucks are part of the culture of going to breweries now,” said David Kaye, co-owner with his father Robert of Ridgefield’s Nod Hill Brewery at 137 Ethan Allen Highway. “A lot of them around the state host food trucks. They offer a variety of casual, good quality food, which enhances the experience of coming here.” That may be so, but Nod Hill needed to work to win Ridgefield’s approval last month of an amendment to its 2016 rule forbidding breweries and wineries from featuring food trucks in one spot for more than 15 minutes. The Kayes needed to get a petition signed by more than 2 percent of registered voters to prove that it was an idea whose time had come. At the subsequent public hearing, “A lot of residents spoke in favor of it, while some were still concerned about it,” David Kaye said. Kaye termed the approval “a pretty gratifying success.” It wasn’t the first time that the Kayes needed a change in Ridgefield’s zoning laws. In February 2017, they were granted a zoning amendment to allow a brewery in their B-2 commercial zone, which previously allowed manufacturing but not brewing. Their food-truck request was made at nearly the same time that Nod Hill opened last October. Kaye declined to describe either struggle as a “fight,” however. “There were concerns about traffic and competition with area restaurants, which we understood,” he said. “The town has been supportive of us. We just had to go through the processes in the correct way.” Food trucks could start operat» FOOD
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