The land on which the Big Woods family of companies plans to build a new distillery and brewery now has the zoning it needs to proceed.

The Brown County Commissioners voted 3-0 Feb. 15 to change the zoning of the two parcels from forest reserve and residential to general business. That land spans about 94 acres of the more than 300 acres of Firecracker Hill, the woods at the junction of Old State Road 46 and Memorial Drive next to the fairgrounds.

Voting in favor had been the recommendation of the Brown County Area Plan Commission in January.

Company co-owner Ed Ryan said they hope to have the new brewing, distilling and bottling facility open — though maybe not completely done — by fall, if everything goes as planned.

Several steps remain after this one.

The land also is up for possible annexation by the town of Nashville. A traffic and fiscal impact study is yet to be completed. Nashville Town Manager/Economic Director Scott Rudd said it may be ready by the March town council meeting. There will be building project reviews and approvals to get and several types of permits to secure.

Before the commissioners voted, neighbors and other county residents took the opportunity to share opinions about the project, some of whom hadn’t made it to previous meetings.

Pine Tree Hills resident Heather Nicholson echoed a concern raised last month, about so much land being zoned for general business when the owners had said they plan to build on only about 5 percent of it. She feared that outlots would be sold to other businesses, and she wanted a written guarantee from the owners that that wouldn’t be done.

Brown County Planning Director Chris Ritzmann said no such guarantee is required for a rezone, but if the owners ever did decide to sell off parts of that acreage, they’d have to go before the county again with a request to subdivide.

Ryan told the crowd at the January APC meeting that the owners had no plan to sell off the acreage they didn’t build on. The vision is to maintain a “park-like atmosphere” for guests of the distillery and brewery.

Ritzmann said a lot of the land isn’t able to be built upon because of the rough terrain.

Nicholson also worried that if more business space were made on the hill, businesses might move out of downtown Nashville.

County council member Darren Byrd said he doesn’t see that happening because “downtown is the place to be,” and if anything, having an attraction that’s as much of a draw as Big Woods is located close to downtown is a positive. If it were to be built further away from downtown, that could draw customers away, he said.

Pine Tree Hills resident Frank Studebaker called for a traffic study to gauge impact on the road to the new attraction, which passes by the high school football field. That was one detail that APC member Paul Navarro also had wanted last month, and lack of specificity was one of the reasons Navarro cast the lone “no” vote on the APC’s recommendation.

Ritzmann said such a study is part of the town’s annexation process. But Navarro pointed out that it isn’t required for a rezone to general business, and he is opposed to that.

Navarro also brought up noise concerns if more motorcycles are drawn to the new brewery and distillery. He believes they’re likely to cut off the highway at Greasy Creek and take that route to the new attraction, so any traffic study should include that neighborhood too.

Parent Clara Stanley, who hadn’t been to earlier meetings about the project, said she had been concerned about the impact the distillery and brewery would have on local children, being within sight of the Brown County Schools campus. After talking earlier that day with Ryan, she said she felt better about the “perspective and vision and philosophy this business is having on our society.”

She urged elected officials, when future opportunities arise, to think about what impact a development or business will have on the education and welfare of local students.

Commissioner Diana Biddle said she can remember the Firecracker Hill property being for sale for at least two decades, and it was going to be developed sometime. Byrd said considering the other possibilities envisioned for it — including a housing development — he thinks “we’re getting a wonderful opportunity with the plans they have for what they want to do and creating something that actually fits into Brown County.”

Commissioner Jerry Pittman reiterated that it’s not up to the commissioners to make judgments based on the kind of business that might go there; the question before them was whether or not to rezone the land to general business.

But he said it would make business sense for the owners to want to build and maintain an attraction that looks good, doesn’t produce unpleasant brewing odors and has a positive reputation.

He said he understood the concerns about rezoning all of the acreage as general business, but the owners’ intent is to try to locate the attraction in a place that’s not only buildable, but with a buffer between it and its neighbors.

If any residents had concerns about how the business was impacting their neighborhood, such as through odors or mold — a concern in other areas with distilleries — County Attorney Jake German said they would have recourse through county laws with the health department, state laws with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, or through hiring an attorney.