Bold City Brewery reopened its taproom Friday afternoon at 2670 Rosselle St. after receiving an incidental occupancy approval from the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.
That approval allows Bold City to open the taproom to 40 people while it addresses other code violations.
The department closed part of Bold City on Thursday.
“We’re very pro-business,” Fire Chief Kurt Wilson said. “We’re going to give them a road map to make sure they get the proper mixed-use occupancy they need to move on.”
The fire marshal closed the taproom and another section of the facility because Bold City Brewery’s certificate of use didn’t allow that function.
The manufacturing and brewery side of the business remained opened.
A summary report from the fire marshal said in August 2008, Bold City was approved for industrial occupancy only and that “at some unknown point, the brewery reconfigured a structure within the facility and started serving beverages to the general public.”
Wilson said the taproom is classified as a mercantile occupancy.
When inspectors arrived at the brewery for a routine inspection Thursday, Wilson said they noticed a sign advertising yoga and tours, which require an assembly occupancy.
According to the summary, the area is large enough for about 300 people. However, “the brewery is not equipped with the fundamental life safety requirements to utilize the facility as a place of assembly.”
Wilson said if Bold City wanted to continue to operate all its business endeavors there, it would need to apply for a mixed-use certificate of occupancy and correct all the violations found on the inspection.
Asked why the violation hadn’t been noticed before, Wilson said inspectors previously assumed that a taproom attached to a brewery was part of the original certificate of use.
“When we go into a business we typically don’t check the COU, especially if nothing piques our interest to do so,” said Wilson. “We assume that if a taproom is attached to a brewery, they’ve been approved to have it.”
The brewery opened in 2008.
Wilson said that annual inspections didn’t occur in Jacksonville until 2012, when the Insurance Service Office recommended the department do so to keep its Class 1 fire rating.
That office assesses risks for fire departments and rates them.
“From 2008 to 2013, there was no inspection there,” he said. “When we came back in 2013, we assumed that the business had the proper COU since it didn’t seem out of the ordinary.”
On Thursday, co-owner Susan Miller said Bold City was under the impression that the city knew the brewery was operating a taproom and that the zoning department had given it the proper approvals in 2008.
Wilson said a certificate of use requires the approval of the building department, zoning and the fire marshal.
Bold City Brewery was one of the first craft breweries in Jacksonville and has two locations. They brew and distribute most of their products at the Rosselle Street facility.
The company opened a second location with a taproom and experimental brewery April 21 at 109 E. Bay St. Downtown.
Bold City Brewery has until Aug. 6 to fix the code violations.
@DavidCawton
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