ALDERMEN: Meadery plans advance; survey begins on nuisance enforcement

On the recommendation of the planning & zoning commission, the board approved a motion to make a meadery a permitted use in a commercial zone. The approval means a public hearing is required because it will change the zoning code.

P&Z voted to recommend the change after discussing the meadery at its Oct. 14 meeting. City clerk Mary Happel said the man’s plans are to make and sell bottled mead, with only tasting allowed on the premises.

She described the operation as small scale with the mead produced by cooking it on a stove top in a five-gallon pot. No mechanical bottling or processing equipment would be used.

There are currently two meaderies in Missouri. One is in Buffalo and the other outside the city of Hermann. P&Z members said the novelty of a meadery might bring more visitors to Salem.

City administrator Ray Walden also reported on the public nuisance workshop held prior to the meeting. Attorney Justin Harmon from Cunningham, Vogel & Rost explained best practices for nuisance enforcement by cities and addressed proposed changes to nuisance enforcement in Salem.

A survey to gather public input on nuisance enforcement will be printed Tuesday. The survey will be available online and at the city administration building. After the responses are summarized, a third nuisance workshop will be scheduled, he said.

For more details, see next week’s issue of The Salem News.