What’s brewing on Hamilton Station Road?

By Laura Longley

It’s no surprise that when residents in western Loudoun get wind of a new winery or brewery coming to their residential neighborhood, they get concerned. Traffic, trespassing, and inebriated patrons getting behind the wheel as they try to navigate their way home through country roads are all realities. What also makes the arrival of these rural businesses troublesome is the filling and grading of the land for the operation—especially if what came before was a dump of materials unknown.

That’s what the folks on Hamilton Station Road between East Colonial Highway and Rt. 9 are now facing. The previous owners of the 17-acre property directly opposite The Barns at Hamilton Station Vineyards never developed it, but instead used the parcel as a dump. The dumping situation over the years became so dire that the heavy runoff onto the road endangered drivers.

That dump was not the only one to trouble the community. Just five minutes away is the Gable Farm and its massive landfill that had been frequented daily by a parade of dump trucks rumbling up the hill to empty their contents in the ever-growing pile. It took several years of community complaints and environmental tests before the dumping ceased when the Loudoun County General District Court issued an Order of Abatement that required the property owners to correct the violations.

Meanwhile no action has been taken by the county to deal with the Hamilton Station dump, despite years of complaints.

The new project planned for Hamilton Station Road would be the second site for Leesburg’s award-winning Black Hoof Brewing Company, owned by Bill and Nikki Haase. With their plans filed with the County and currently moving through the approval process, the neighbors are seeking answers to their concerns. They are asking the Haases and their project team how they plan to manage an operation that would bring approximately 80,000 square yards of fill onto the property and shift drainage to the southwest. At 12 cubic yards of dirt per dump truck, this construction activity would require nearly 7,000 truckloads and disturb 13 of the property’s 17 acres. 

The residents are also seeking answers about additional grading, erosion, and sediment control; quality of the fill, duration of fill operations, and dust from regrading; drainfield capacity and gallons per minute; property and building design and materials; number of events per year, and noise abatement.  

Well regarded in the art and science of brewing, the Haases have impressive credentials and experience in other fields as well. Co-owner Nikki Haase is an engineer at Microsoft; her husband, Bill Haase, is an environmental engineer. Their brewer, Dean Lake, has experience building breweries and similar projects.

The team expects to have the brewery up and running within a year or two once they obtain the necessary approvals. The job of filling and grading the property as well as removing a pond is likely to occupy most of that time. Exterior construction by an Amish firm from Pennsylvania that customizes pre-manufactured pole barns would take approximately two weeks. Interior work and brewery installation should be a few months; Bill and Nikki Haase assure the community that the noise inside will be limited.

Meanwhile, the neighbors hope to work collaboratively with Black Hoof Brewing Company and the Haase team to minimize the impact on their residential community. The residents intend to safeguard the interests of the neighbors, including working directly with County and Commonwealth regulators and reserving the right to challenge the regrading and brewery operation plans.