It’s a sunny October Friday in Southern Connecticut and locals are getting the last bits of warm weather out the early fall. At Twelve Percent Beer Project on State Street in North Haven constituents sit at outdoor tables in a cordoned off parking lot sipping beer out of plastic cups, tending to dogs and friends. A food truck hums in the same lot and business looks good.
Just down the road in Hamden, No Worries Brewery is opening. Patrons enter through a front door into a large warehouse area with barrels serving as some of the tables and a bar in the back. Board games are stacked near the bathroom entrance, while dartboards and cornhole boards line the open room’s other side. A wraparound patio invites beer drinkers to soak in the late afternoon sun. Just a half-hour into the business day and the place is already hopping.
Twelve Percent and No Worries are two of some 200ish breweries in Connecticut. No Worries is technically the only one in Hamden, though Twelve Percent’s property in North Haven is just over a mile from the Hamden town line.
The scenes at those two places dance in the minds of Bob Chicoine and Kevin Fitzsimmons, who have the same vision for Haven Beer Company. Their idea, they say, will become a reality at 2323 Whitney Ave., which housed Mickey’s Restaurant & Bar for 15 years caddy-corner from Hamden Town Hall.
Owners of Dockside Brewery in Milford, Chicoine and Fitzsimmons want to use their experience and open a brewery in Hamden. Their plans include an 8,000-square-foot restaurant and a 4,000-square-foot brewery with a rooftop terrace, a beer garden, fire pits and outdoor games.
Renovations at 2323 Whitney Ave. have begun and the vision of Haven Beer Company is coming to life.
“We want each room to provide a different experience for the customer. We are unique in that we have a full brewery on the premise. We don’t distribute our beer to bars or stores; you can only get it on-site,” Fitzsimmons said.
Although it sounds like an inviting space that can have a positive impact on the community, it has not been a smooth process.
Almost a year since they submitted their first proposal to the town, the brewery renovations have only begun. They have run into friction from surrounding business owners who are concerned about parking and competition. They also face a lawsuit filed by Tri-Star Reality.
All of it, they believe, is an attempt to end their vision before it becomes a reality.
Proposal Process
In November 2022, Chicoine, Fitzsimmons and their team submitted their proposal for Haven Beer Company to Hamden’s Planning and Zoning Commission to fill the space once used by Mickey’s restaurant on the corners of Whitney and Dixwell Avenues.
The brewery went through the site plan permit process, one of three permits that a business can apply for in Hamden. Depending on the type of business, its purpose and where it is zoned, the town decides which permit process it must go through. A zoning permit and a special permit are the other two types. A special permit is more extensive and requires a hearing that is open to the public.
Town planner Eugene Livshits said there was no need for a special meeting for the brewery’s proposal.
“It did not require a public hearing because we classify it as ‘restaurant use’ and the brewing part as ‘life manufacturing,’” said Livshits. “There are no specific regulations for a brewery, but it is viewed as two separate uses and they need to have certain requirements for approval.”
The town approved the brewery’s proposal on its first attempt. That is a big step in the process because there are different things that need to be thought out with an establishment of this sort.
Counterweight Brewing owner, Matt Westfall, relocated his brewery from Hamden to Cheshire in 2022 and has first-hand experience with the process.
“I think any normal project where there’s manufacturing involved certainly has its challenges, specifically to Hamden,” Westfall said.
“You had to be educated about what the building department was doing for their inspections. Luckily, there was already a brewery in town so we had an idea what to expect.”
Westfall said that there are other components of opening a brewery that has nothing to do with the city or state but that need to be sorted out prior to the proposal meeting with the town.
“Most of the operations regarding kegs and delivery trucks fall under federal laws,” he said. “We are required to have a permit that allows us to manufacture the product to begin with, and then on the state and local level.
“As far as deliveries and trucks, we have a wholesaler who handles that for us. It is important to have that sorted out, as well.”
Legal Challenges
Despite the town’s proposal approval, the brewery wasn’t in the clear yet.
With any proposal approval, it can be appealed and Tri-Star Reality, which owns Eli’s and Roishi, did just that. It argued that the proposal violated parking regulations.
Chicoine, Fitzsimmons and their team addressed the parking concerns in their second version of the proposal. They explained that the proposed plans require 107 parking spaces for the brewery, but there are more than 800 spaces between the lot and the parking garage.
Again, the town approved the proposal, and it seemed like they were in the clear.
Despite the town’s support, Tri-Star Reality filed a lawsuit at New Haven Superior Court alleging that the Hamden Planning and Zoning Commission and HC2 Associates LLC, which owns the parcel where the new brewery will be located, didn’t properly address the parking requirement.
Livshits, however, believes the proposal meets all the requirements.
“I can tell you from a zoning perspective that they meet all the requirements that they needed to comply with our standards,” he said.
The brewery is zoned as a T-5 space and labeled as a multi-use zone.
“T-zones don’t require intense parking requirements. There’s shared parking and a parking garage that they are allowed to use based on how the deeds were originally created when they split some of those parcels,” Livshits said.
“There’s an agreement that whoever’s in the site is allowed to use that parking garage, as well.”
Still, the lawsuit has yet to be dismissed.
Hamden residents’ support of brewery
Livshits is just one Hamden resident who supports the opening of another brewery.
“It is actually good to see a vacant space reused. I think they can be a catalyst for the community in terms of improving foot traffic and it can actually help other businesses surrounding it,” he said.
Avid brewery-goer Jordan Letner has been to No Worries Brewery a couple times and is excited about the addition of a second brewery in Hamden.
“I think it’s good for the town. It allows for an empty building to be occupied again and it generates tax revenue,” said Letner. “People should have confidence that the business will be run well since it is being occupied by people who already operate another brewery.”
Owners of Eli’s and Roishi do not feel the same. However, Hamden residents, like Chris Atchley, do. After he learned about the lawsuit against Haven Beer Company, Atchley created an online petition urging Eli’s to drop the lawsuit.
The petition has accumulated over 2,000 signatures since it was created in April 2023.
Hamden planning and zoning regulations challenge other business owners
Haven Beer Company is not the only project that has faced challenges with zoning regulations and surrounding businesses, there are others who have had a difficult time opening their business.
Succoso is a burger joint that recently opened on Whitney Avenue steps from Quinnipiac University.
Succoso owner Zainab Tariq said the process of finding the right location was challenging.
“There were multiple spaces we looked at. We just didn’t know all the different requirements or rules for each space,” said Tariq. “It took us a few tries before we got the right spot.”
A burger joint was not Tariq’s first idea for a business. Initially, she wanted to open a cafe. She went through the process of applying for permits twice, with both getting denied. Tariq took a four-month-long break before trying again, this time with the idea of Succoso Burger.
“We were getting the proposals, signing the leases, getting to the final steps and then something would go wrong. We would be told something that just wasn’t possible for us to do,” she said. “It was frustrating. We took a break from it all before the idea of a burger place popped into my head.”
Mighty Donuts, located on Dixwell Ave. is a donut shop that opened its doors in late 2022. Owner Yericka Estrada had to overcome a few hurdles before she received the green light to open her shop.
“It was difficult. It is a different process opening a shop in Hamden than it is even in New Haven,” Estrada said. “I own a nail salon in New Haven, but opening my donut shop was harder. I didn’t know about all the zoning requirements.”
Whitney Brewery’s future
Chicoine and Fitzsimmons originally planned for the brewery to open in October, but with the lengthy proposal process and the lawsuit, they have only just begun renovations on the building.
For Fitzsimmons, he is hopeful to open soon and put the proposal process and lawsuit behind them.
“We are aiming to open mid-December,” said Fitzsimmons. “We are allowed to open, regardless of the on-going lawsuit because the town fully approved it so that’s what we are striving for.”