Residents oppose permit

#MiddleburyCT #TranquillityVineyard #CraftCafePermit

This new sign giving notice of a proposed craft cafe liquor permit for Tranquillity Vineyards went up March 25 and will remain in place for 21 days. Those who wish to comment on the application will have until May 6 to do so. (Marjorie Needham photo)

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

Middlebury residents who oppose or favor the Connecticut Liquor Control Board (LCB) granting a craft cafe permit to Tranquillity Vineyards now have more time in which to express their thoughts to the LCB. That’s because the required sign put up February 4, 2025, listed an email address that ended up bouncing emails sent to it. When that began happening, a resident contacted the LCB. The agent for the application determined a sign with the correct information needed to be posted for 21 days.

The new sign (shown above) went up March 25, 2025, and residents will have until May 6 to express their views on the permit. The new sign gives no email address; it instead directs people to a website with information on the remonstrance procedure. Per that website, the email address is DCP.LiquorControl@ct.gov.

In addition to the new sign going up, it appears site plans for the vineyard may be on the agenda for the April 3, 2025, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) meeting as drawings were filed with the town on March 14, 2025. Discussions about the vineyard at the March Planning and Zoning meeting included the Middlebury Land Trust’s concerns that its conservation easement was possibly being violated and that information on what was happening on the property was hard to come by.

At the March 3 Board of Selectmen (BoS) meeting, Middlebury residents expressed opposition to the new permit, and at the March 6 P&Z meeting, officers of the Middlebury Land Trust expressed their opposition to it. The Middlebury Land Trust has an agricultural conservation easement over the entire parcel. That easement limits what the owner can do on the property.

The vineyard currently has three liquor permits: Manufacturer Farm Winery, Manufacturer Cider – Wine – Mead and Connecticut Farm Winery, Brewery and Cidery.

The new permit would allow the vineyard to sell spirits manufactured elsewhere and includes distilled spirits. Service could be at outside tables, and service would be allowed from 9 a.m to 1 a.m. the next morning Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. the next morning Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. the next morning on Sunday.

The signs announcing the application list entertainment including live bands, acoustics (not amplified), comedians, disc jockeys, karaoke, and magicians. Although food must be available during the majority of hours alcohol is sold and consumed, a craft cafe does not need to have a kitchen or dining room.

Objections to the permit can take the form of individual letters or what is called “remonstrance,” a formal procedure in which people sign and submit a petition and the Liquor Control Board holds a hearing for presentation of objections to the permit. Afterwards, the Board writes a decision explaining why it granted either the remonstrance or the liquor permit.

Letters and remonstrance petitions need to be emailed to DCP.LiquorRemonstrance@CT.gov. The mailing address is Department of Consumer Protection, Liquor Control Division, 450 Columbus Blvd., Suite 901, Hartford, CT 06103. Submissions must be received no later than Tuesday, May 6, 2025.

Residents Katrina Anger and Dale Barton expressed their concerns at the BoS meeting. Anger, who lives on Lake Quassapaug, said she is always grateful when Quassy Amusement Park closes for the day and the noise stops. She said she is concerned about potential noise from the vineyard. Barton, speaking via Zoom, said people visiting the vineyard already park in her driveway, blocking her access, and some have urinated on her property.

Middlebury Land Trust co-presidents Alice Hallaran and Tom Cunningham spoke at the P&Z meeting, pointing out the Trust has an agricultural easement on the property, and the easement says activities there are to be limited to agricultural activities. They are concerned other types of activities either are or will be taking place there.

They also said they haven’t received complete plans for the vineyard, but one plan showed a cut through the original stone wall facing Route 64. The easement only allows a cut through the wall on Tranquillity Road.