Good evening,
On Tuesday, the state’s adult beverage czar (the formal term is commissioner) held a hearing on Yorklyn’s Dew Point brewery.
The brewery is a key part of a long-term plan to convert a brownfield vulcanized rubber factory complex and its surroundings into a mixed use area that will include businesses and parkland.
By most accounts, Dew Point has been a decent neighbor, but is accused of noise issues with outdoor music performances. It’s worth noting that 3,000 people signed a petition supporting the brewery.
Opponents say the music was far too loud and violated agreements. One neighbor said the band could be heard a mile or so away.
How this ended up in a hearing rather than an administrative matter that could have been handled under the broad powers of the commissioner is unclear.
Commissioners have generally made the right decisions in separating well-run operations from nuisance establishments. We saw that happen a while ago when a few neighbors protested the Constitution Yards beer garden on Wilmington’s Riverfront.
Still, the hearings create legal and financial hassles for businesses that are beginning to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The craft beer business, like its restaurant cousins, is typically built on passion and low profit margins. Many owners hold down day jobs.
Still, our biggest issue is with the current system, that is simply driven by a petition without an initial review.
Worse yet, the claim will be settled by a non-elected commissioner who serves as both judge and jury. The commissioner has broad powers that for many years included serving as a collection agency for beer distributors.
The system may have been OK at the time when we arrived in Delaware, a state that at the time had 600,000 residents.
The population has swelled to about one million and now has a craft brewing industry that employs well over 1,000 people when you add in Dogfish and brewpub restaurants.
Craft breweries have exemplary track records with limited operating hours and no dirt cheap beer specials that draw the wrong crowd.
In Delaware, occupations and some types of businesses are governed by a mix of state officials, industry professionals and community members.
It’s past time for a regulatory framework that reflects the realities of the 21st century rather than a system that dates back to the end of prohibition. – Doug and Sharon Rainey.
