Motorworks Brewing launches noise ordinance petition

Motorworks Brewing launched a public petition to protest the city’s decision to piggyback onto Manatee County’s proposed new noise ordinance, which it says would do nothing to address the needs of the city’s entertainment district on Ninth Street West.

That vision is the reason Motorworks chose to locate in, and ultimately invest millions of dollars in Bradenton — and not St. Petersburg.

According to Barry Elwonger, Motorworks marketing manager, the survey was posted online at about 5 p.m. Monday, and by 11 a.m. Tuesday, 350 people had participated with 95 percent of respondents expressing support for Motorworks to have extended outside hours.

“And the responses are still pouring in,” said Elwonger. “People want to see change in the feel of downtown and want the city to follow through with planning the downtown like other cities that are thriving. What the city is missing, is that they are driving people away.”

The county’s proposed ordinance would restrict decibel levels to 65, which is equivalent to two or three people talking. Motorworks co-founder Denise Tschida said she is disheartened by the city’s lack of support.

“This is an urban setting,” she said. “These mixed signals of wanting an arts and entertainment district but enacting a noise ordinance that technically could send someone to jail on a first offense is pushing people into other areas. We have the biggest beer garden in the country and it draws people from all over the world.”

But they aren’t staying. Tschida said the most recent experience was a group drove all the way from Orlando to experience the garden and couldn’t believe the band quit at 10 p.m. and watched the beer garden empty out to the point of “dead silence.”

Tschida wants the city to reconsider and hopes the public input from the survey will convince city officials to rescind their vote to join the county’s ordinance and take a common-sense approach to develop its own ordinance reflecting its vision for the downtown. Elwonger said they want to have outdoor entertainment until 11 p.m. weekdays and midnight on weekends and days preceding a holiday.

Tschida said she feels misled.

“We were welcomed with open arms and the city’s vision of an arts and entertainment district was a perfect fit for us and felt we were helping tie into the Village of the Arts and downtown,” she said. “Our product is all over the state and getting ready to go national. On all of our cans, keg taps and coasters, it says ‘Bradenton.’ We are getting ready to do a commercial statewide that says ‘Motorworks Brewing, Bradenton Florida, it’s worth the drive.”

Tschida isn’t so sure anymore. The push for an entertainment district has virtually disappeared. She said there’s been no communication from city officials about the future of the district and she’s concerned the message for other business owners is Bradenton is no longer willing to fulfill its vision.

“We built this place to give people the full experience of the largest beer garden anywhere,” said Tschida. “And now we can’t give it to them anymore. This is an entertainment district. It’s not a quiet zone.”

Ward 3 Councilman Patrick Roff has been the most outspoken about pushing ahead with the entertainment district and modifying the city noise ordinance to reflect that vision. Roff said he agrees with everything Motorworks is saying.

“I’m not thrilled with the county’s ordinance because, while it has some benefits to it, it also doesn’t fix the problems,” said Roff. “It’s no better or worse than what we have now and I have to emphasize that we haven’t done anything yet.”

Roff said he has come to understand the pace of government and knows it’s a slow process to get things done.

“It’s getting to the end zone 10 yards at time,” he said. “However, this is the first time in awhile that we are at least discussing the noise ordinance, which is something I have been trying to do for some time. I still believe that we need to move toward St. Pete’s noise ordinance, which is more user friendly to their downtown.”

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 3:28 PM with the headline "Motorworks Brewing launches noise ordinance petition."