NORFOLK, Va. — The attorney representing Armed Forces Brewing is warning the City of Norfolk of a potential lawsuit ahead of a December vote determining its fate.
After the Norfolk Planning Commission shot down the controversial brewery’s request for three conditional use permits, City Council will have the final say during an upcoming meeting.
In a letter sent to City Attorney Bernard Pishko, Tim Anderson said if the city council votes against Armed Forces Brewing Company, "the city should expect my office to initiate a suit."
The controversy surrounding this Armed Forces Brewing Company comes after a shareholder for the company and veteran, Robert J. O’Neill, shared anti-LGBTQ rhetoric online, including calling members of the LGBTQ community "pedophiles." He has also stated, "China is going to destroy us," because the U.S. Navy featured a servicemember and drag queen in a recruitment video.
Since the announcement that Armed Forces Brewing will open their headquarters in the Railroad District of Norfolk, three different groups have openly opposed them.
Two different civic leagues voted to ask the Norfolk Planning Commission to deny recommending their permits.
During a November Planning Commission meeting, that's exactly what they did in a 4-2 vote.
RELATED: Norfolk Planning Commission recommends against issuing permits for Armed Forces Brewing Company
"Your choice of representation has come up with antisemitism, violent hate speech, and I’m genuinely concerned that you may not comply with city conditions and partner successfully with the community, so I vote no," said commission member Kim Sudderth.
Scott Bateman was one of the two commissioners who voted to approve, but he acknowledged the controversy surrounding the business.
"I do think there's a lot of community work to do for a business that comes in and understanding the turmoil that happened when the announcement was made, I think our mandate for this commission is land use zoning ordinance and our comprehensive plan and on those things, I vote yes."
Numerous people signed up to speak both for and against the business, with many organizing against them online.
Now the brewery’s fate rests in the hands of City Council.
In a letter sent by the brewery’s attorney, Tim Anderson, he warns "should the City Council vote to accept the recommendations of Planning and deny the land use applications of my client, the City of Norfolk should expect my office to initiate a suit."
In an interview immediately following the Planning Commission's vote, Anderson said they feel confident City Council will be on their side during their vote.
"I think fundamentally when we're talking about land use, whether we should be able to operate, there’s really no difference between O’Connor's and Armed Forces Brewery with what they’re gonna do other than the name and the theme, and fundamentally it’s gonna be hard to legally say no to that, despite the politics that happened," he said.
Anderson's letter, filed on November 20th, went on to say he has concerns for the “abuse of process” against his client during November’s Planning Commission meeting. He claims some of the questions directed to CEO Alan Beal were “out of line and expressed arbitrary bias.”
"As you know, Armed Forces Brewing Company has several conditional use permits to run a brewery out of a location where a brewery has previously run for the better part of a decade. The question of land use, and whether a brewery could and should operate in the present location, has been answered previously answered by the City Council in allowing a former brewery to operate in the exact same location. Armed Forced Brewing Company has taken careful steps to create a verbatim application package as has previously been approved and operates at this location by a former brewery," said Anderson in the letter.
He goes on to say “while it is the right of any citizen to speak to their government, it is the government’s job to make land use decisions on a fair, level and predictable playing field and not bow to the political pressure of a group of citizens.”
We reached out to the City of Norfolk Monday afternoon, but they were not available for an afterhours comment.
Norfolk City Council is scheduled to take their vote next week -- on December 12th.
The brewery was brewing beer under a grandfathered permit, but that expired on November 23rd. Everything is now offline until the Dec. 12th vote.