DEFIANCE, Mo. — Many of us would be excited about the idea of a new brewery moving into the neighborhood. But in Defiance, the plan for a new William K. Busch brewhouse isn't going down so easy.
People who live near the proposed site fear it could disrupt their rural neighborhood.
"Most people that live out this way will get in their car and drive 45 to 90 minutes to go work downtown but come back to the sanctity of this area,” Michael Reth said.
For 14 years, the wildlife has been Reth’s neighbor, but if the brewery plan passes, he’ll live next door to the commercial venture.
"What we're concerned about is the lack of limits and what it could become,” he said.
Because the vision only starts with beer. Busch Brewing also wants to add a distillery, a museum and even a petting zoo. Construction could begin before the year is over if the proposal is approved.
Reth wants to press pause on the plan because he has questions about whether his two-land road can handle the traffic.
“There's no shoulders, we've got culvert pipes, everything drops off,” he said.
He doubts the brewery's trucks could handle these sharp turns.
And he and his neighbors wonder how the operation and its crowds could change their little slice of peace and quiet.
"We thought that at the end of the day we'd have a similar setting, and we still may," he said.
He said they’re open to compromise.
The St. Charles County Planning and Zoning Committee had a meeting about brewery Wednesday night and they voted to continue the discussion until next month's meeting, October 17.
