It was a full house at the March public meeting of the Broad Ripple Village Association (BRVA) Land Use and Development committee. More than 30 people filled the gathering room at Broad Ripple United Methodist Church at 62nd and Guilford Avenue. There were five items on the agenda.

The first presentation was for property located at 1021 Broad Ripple Avenue. Scotty's Brewhouse owner Scott Wise described his plans to move his business offices to the former Sunflower Market (and long ago Peaches Records and A&P) location. His plans also include a commissary kitchen, a microbrewery run by the Beer Barons, and a tap room.

"The Beer Baron guys are going to distribute their [label] beer around the state to bars, restaurants, liquor stores...Then they would also be brewing for [Scotty's Brewhouse] exclusively, where we would sell just to our restaurants," explained Scott Wise. "So the existing five Scotty's and the one Lakehouse would carry those brands, we wouldn't sell it anywhere else."

The commissary kitchen would prepare some of the foods for the Scotty's locations. This would be all cold prep, not cooking. A 18 foot tall by 9 foot diameter grain silo is proposed for the brewing room to cut down on deliveries and eliminate the waste of grain bags. Some outdoor seating is planned. A zoning variance would be required by the city due to the close proximity to the Monon Trail. Proposed hours for the tap room would be 5 pm to 11 pm weekdays and noon to midnight on the weekends.

"We're not doing a Scotty's Brewhouse in Broad Ripple. I want to make that clear. I think that was a misconception that was out there for a little bit. [In the tap room] we are going to serve four to five appetizers, and that's it. The rest of it will just be beers, no wine, the beers [the Beer Barons] make for themselves and the beer we make. Our goal is to make it family-friendly, smoke-free like all Scotty's locations."

There was no vote by the BRVA committee as a formal petition has not yet been filed with the city by Scotty's.

The second presentation was for 901 E. 64th Street. This is the old Whistle Stop and the original Monon train station. David Gabovitch announced that BRICS, Broad Ripple Ice Cream Station, has been working with the city for a number of years and have finally come to a lease agreement for the City of Indianapolis-owned property.

"We are planning to have premium ice cream from a dairy out of South Haven, Michigan," explained Gabovitch. "Sherman's Ice Cream, or you might be familiar with Oink's in New Buffalo. Our plan is to be as environmentally friendly as possible...we will have a water fountain where people can fill their water bottles, for free, on the trail."

While ice cream will be the focus of BRICS, some sandwiches will be offered as well. BRICS will be open year-round. There was no vote needed for BRICS, the presentation was informational only.

The third presentation was for 6420 Cornell Avenue (former Hoghead's BBQ location) by Timothy Williams. Williams has applied for a beer/wine permit for his new restaurant Monon Food Company. "Our concept is taking comfort food, blending with a little bit of California, and my personal touches - fish tacos, good rotisserie chicken burritos. Good, healthy, fresh ingredients blended with Midwestern cooking with a west coast influence. We will be pet friendly and family friendly." Monon Food Company will feature local art, both visual and musical.

The fourth presentation was by David Kingan for the property at 1030 Kessler Boulevard. The Gazette has covered this petition many times and will only list the changes here. Kingan presented a development plan with a reduction of residences to two from the original five, with one shared driveway and with new setbacks to reflect the smaller structures. The committee agreed to vote via email once the final drawings are submitted.

The last presentation was for 6525 College Avenue. The Northside Social is requesting a variance of zoning standards to legally establish an existing deck on the College Avenue side of the restaurant. The deck will be improved this spring to meet ADA standards for access. The committee voted to support this petition.

The next public meeting of the BRVA Land Use and Development committee is scheduled for Tuesday, April 27, 2010. The meeting starts at 6 pm at Broad Ripple United Methodist Church.