Board to consider Burbank business’ brewery proposal

The owners of Market City Caffe want to bring a brewery and tasting room to central Burbank, according to an application filed with the city in November.

Plans call for a 670-square-foot tasting room inside a new 4,500-square-foot brewery at 156 W. Verdugo Ave., where Market City Caffe Hospitality Group operates JuiceFarm, a cold-pressed organic juice business.

During a meeting this week, Burbank’s Planning Board agreed to consider the proposal on Feb. 22 to allow city staff to review the details in updated plans.

The brewery is a permitted use at the location under the city’s zoning code, according to a city memo, but the board will consider whether to approve a conditional-use permit to allow the tasting room and an alcohol license for a small beer manufacturer — a brew pub or micro-brewery — allowing sale and consumption of alcohol on and off the premises.

The JuiceFarm owners plan to continue the juicery operations along with the brewery and tasting room, said Christina Michaelis, a Burbank assistant planner. Emails and a phone call to the owners were not returned as of Friday.

Documents filed with the city indicate the location has 12 parking spaces, but revised plans may affect parking requirements, which is why the planning staff asked for more time to review the proposal and solicit comments from other city divisions before the Planning Board considers it, according to a city memo.

A floor plan filed with the city indicates the tasting room is expected to have seating for 24 customers. The plans also call for four new parking spaces. According to the conditional-use permit application, the project would involve minimal demolition and construction, and the site is expected to have a maximum of five employees.

Besides Market City Caffe in downtown Burbank, Market City Caffe Hospitality Group’s portfolio includes Morels French Steak House & Bistro locations in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, D.vino Italian Food & Wine Bar and Dragon Noodle Co. also in Las Vegas, Peet’s Coffee & Tea Hawaii and Vanishing Point Winery in Yountville.

The city has, so far, received two written responses to notices about the proposed brewery and tasting room. One in favor and one against.

“I think a brewery at this location will help put Burbank on the craft-brew map and be good for the primarily industrial area,” one commenter wrote in an email — names were redacted from the correspondence. “A nice change of pace from the seemingly endless auto shops in the area.”

Another person who owns property within 1,000 feet of the proposed brewery wrote that, “in my 80 plus years, I have never seen anything beneficial resulting from alcohol consumption and only seen innumerable lives destroyed from alcohol abuse.”

The commenter wrote that she or he has abstained from alcohol for nearly 50 years. However, there was one part of the project the writer did support in a post-script.

“PS: I am all in favor of the ‘Juice Farm,’” the person wrote. “Especially if it is ‘organic.’ But not ‘spiked.’”