People attend a show outside Pendragon in 2021. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — The village development board unanimously approved a site plan from Bloomingdale-based Hex and Hop Brewing to open a new brewing and tavern location in the soon-to-be-vacated Pendragon Theatre building on Brandy Brook Avenue.

The site plan application was approved with several contingencies relating to parking, hours of operation and approval from the state Liquor Authority.

Colleen Locke, who owns the Kids R Us early learning center directly next door, expressed safety concerns at the meeting, saying that parking has always been a “major issue.” The tiny lot is shared by four businesses — Kids R Us, which shares its building with North Country Community College; the Adirondack Park Pet Hospital and Pendragon.

She also had concerns about the tap room’s hours of operation, but Hex and Hop owner Ethan Mikesell said they should be running on opposite schedules, and that he’s a pretty family-friendly business.

Mikesell opened the initial Hex and Hop brewery in Bloomingdale in 2019. In 2021, he opened a secondary brewing location at the long-vacant horse stables on the Trudeau Sanatorium property at 486 Park Ave.

The bee-focused brewery uses honey from Malone-based Adirondack Honey in many of its beers, as well as meads. It produces around 10,000 gallons a year currently.

There was a plan to eventually open a tavern on Park Avenue, but it never materialized. Mikesell said with Pendragon Theatre preparing to relocate to a new building downtown, he saw an opportunity to relocate his secondary brewery’s production and open a tavern.

The former theater building at 15 Brandy Brook Ave. would be a “perfect fit,” he said, with high ceilings and being right next to the recently completed Adirondack Rail Trail. He’s also planning to have food trucks and an outdoor beer garden area at the property.

Locke has owned and been the administrator of Kids R Us right next door to the Pendragon building for 30 years. She said Kids R Us is the largest child care center in Essex and Franklin counties, with 82 children on the license.

The buildings are very close.

“You could almost put your cup out the back door and ask if you could have a cup of sugar from the building next door,” Locke said. “We’re that close.”

She wanted to hear Mikesell’s plans for the building. Their two operations might never cross paths, but she was worried and said she wants to collaborate to ensure the safety of the kids she cares for.

Kids R Us’s hours of operation are from 7:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Locke said 4 to 5:30 p.m. is a busy time as kids are getting picked up by their parents.

The lot is “congested,” parking is “hodge-podge” and there’s a general “anything goes” atmosphere to how people treat it.

The Hex and Hop application says the public-facing taproom side of the business would only be open on weekends and Tuesdays in the first year. The application says the taproom would be open on Tuesdays from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. On weekends, it would be open from noon to 10 p.m.

He said, based on his experience with the brewery in Bloomingdale, business is usually slow on weekdays until dinnertime around 6 p.m.

Mikesell said, after a year in the new space, he would like to be open five to seven days a week, with weekday hours of 4 to 10 p.m. and weekend hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Village Community Development Director Katrina Glynn said he would need to return to the board for approval to expand hours.

The site plan was approved with several contingencies.

They must add parking signs and lines to the lot, a 6-foot-tall solid fence between the building and the playground area and screening for the dumpster.

Hex and Hop must either get approval from the owner of the Adirondack Park Pet Hospital building to use the right-of-way in the parking lot to access the property or develop an alternate access plan.

The handicap ramp on the eastern side of Kids R Us is to remain “as is.”

The site plan approval will not be active until the brewery gets its approval from the state Liquor Authority.

It must also keep to the operating hours it set in the application.

Mikesell said he’ll need to meet the contingencies next.

He was “pleasantly surprised” by the meeting. He had thought it’d be more contentious.

Locke said she was shocked the liquor authority would approve a license for a brewery so close to a day care. Mikesell said he checked with the authority before he bid on the building.

Since Kids R Us is a private business that is not 100% operated as an educational facility, the restrictions do not apply to it. Mikesell said the authority only wanted to see his loan documentation.

Luke Meissner, a parent of a child at the daycare and a member of the Pendragon board, said he had the same concerns as Locke, but that they were assuaged after he talked with Mikesell because he felt the hours of operation would not interfere with the daycare.

Meissner said he supports the project and called it a great fit for the property.

Pendragon Board Chair Melinda Little said they were “super-excited” to sell the building to someone who will use it and not demolish it. She also said the sale is important to the board, as the revenue is being counted on for their budget for the new theater building on the corner of Woodruff and Church streets.