BAXTER — Both the Baxter City Council and Patrick Sundberg, owner of Jack Pine Brewery, look toward future drafts as the council unanimously decided Tuesday, April 5, to deny his special event requests.
Sundberg had sent a letter to the council requesting approval for 12 special events between Memorial Day and Labor Day, seeking to utilize an area outside of his approved outdoor seating area to host concerts.
Instead, there will be fewer such events allowed at Jack Pine while the city looks at changes to city code regarding special events.
Baxter
gives permission to the city to consider the issuance of a special event permit to a business, organization, or individual to host a special event requiring use of special services, use of public property or right-of-way, or temporary exemption from compliance with applicable local and state regulations. Such events would not threaten the health, safety and welfare of residents and visitors of the city.
Submitted photo
Earlier this year, the Jack Pine Brewery received administrative approval for four special events in 2022.
“We kind of inadvertently found out that our outdoor space is just a phenomenal venue for live music and we really took advantage of that last year, in the summer,” Sundberg said.
At a time when people were itching for something to do, after all the activities were canceled for a year and a half, Jack Pine Brewery kind of fell into putting on live music outside as a way of working with the state’s COVID-19 restrictions, Sundberg said.
“I think this is really special but I don’t know how far that’s going to go,” Sundberg said. “So I’m not to the point and the business isn’t to the point where we can build-out … and really, really go that far.”
Jack Pine’s four busiest days of the year, Memorial Day weekend, Fourth of July weekend, Labor Day weekend and their fall festival weekend were covered by their initial request, which equated to 12 days or about 3.2% of total operational days for the year.
As he closed up his statement to the council, Sundberg said he respected the council’s decision, adding that he was “looking for that line, ‘Where’s that line for special events? And where can we go?’”
With most of the council familiar with Sundberg since his garage brewing days, council member Connie Lyscio asked if 12 was the “magic number” for the max number of special events an organizer can host.
Council member Zach Tabatt added how the city’s code did not match with what was being discussed.
“I think what happened here was that the form that gets filled out, doesn’t match the code and it just kind of slipped through,” Tabatt said. “I’m also saying, I don’t think we have the ability or authority to deny a special event based on a number, based on how I read the code.”
The council ultimately fell back on the number of requests and felt adding more events moves farther from “special” and more toward a standard operating procedure.
A unanimous vote to deny Sundberg’s request for 12 additional special use permits was passed at the meeting. With the vote, the council also formed a committee to review the code as written and advise the council and city on potential changes.
“We’ll still figure out a way to do live music somehow, but it’s going to change the look and feel of the patio,” Sundberg said after the meeting. “So our live music for the summer isn’t dead, it’s just going to have a scaled-back appearance. … We’re always trying to come up with new and fun ideas or different ways we can do things. At Jackpine, we’ll kind of run through the summer and see what the future brings for us.”
TIM SPEIER, staff writer, can be reached on Twitter
, call 218-855-5859 or email
tim.speier@brainerddispatch.com
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