Plans for Rockwall's First Downtown Brewery in Limbo

A brewery and tap room set to become the first in Downtown Rockwall has hit a roadblock.

Last week, the city's planning and zoning committee denied Siren Rock Brewing Company's application for a permit.

Husband and wife team Cory and Eva Cannon first envisioned their brewery about a year ago.

"We knew we wanted to make something that was our own that we could put our creativity into and really market well… but still be involved in the local community. That was really important to us," Eva Cannon said.

So their focus turned to the craft beer industry. While breweries are booming nationally, the Cannons said the Dallas-Fort Worth market is still undersaturated, giving them a perfect opportunity.

While Rockwall already has breweries, they've been limited to light industrial areas in the past as they are in several other cities. Still, the Cannons had another vision.

"We really wanted to be downtown. We wanted to be part of the community, part of the downtown district, so that meant we had to go and have the zoning and the city ordinance rewritten," Cory Cannon said.

The Cannons said they worked with the city for four months to make that happen. The planning and zoning commission ultimately passed new zoning to allow breweries in the downtown district with a 7-0 vote. Council followed 5-2.

That's why Cory and Eva said they fully expected their application for a permit for their business to be approved. Instead, they said planning and zoning flip-flopped by voting to deny their request.

"We were definitely surprised when P&Z voted down. You know, we felt everyone really understood the vision we were looking for," Eva said.

That vote followed public comment made by Rockwall's mayor Jim Pruitt, who told the board it was his first time coming before them.

Pruitt said he told the Cannons he was against the project from the very beginning.

"This is very troubling to me, this thing with the brewery across the street," Pruitt said at the July 10th meeting.

He shared concerns with the board that the brewery would be a non-restaurant in a district that previously didn't allow bars, meaning the city couldn't control how much alcohol it would serve.

"I just want us to be careful that we put in some type of regulations in these things that won't allow in the future these things to just become wholesale bars," Pruitt said.

They are concerns the Cannons said are unwarranted in what they hope to build as a family-friendly establishment that will draw visitors to Downtown Rockwall.

In hopes that can still happen, the Cannons tried to withdraw their permit application before council this week in order to reapply and get planning and zoning's approval. For now, it's a decision the council has tabled until city leaders and the Cannons can meet to discuss the plans and alternatives in two weeks.