Traverse City might be the Cherry Capital of the world, but Leelanau County is well on its way to being the hard cider hub, at least for the state of Michigan. Already home to a trio of sizable cideries, Leelanau could add one more, depending on a public hearing this week in Solon Township. Tomorrow (Tuesday), the Solon Township Planning Commission will review an application for Heartwood Ciders, a hard cidery proposed for the southeastern corner of the township. The same meeting will also feature a public hearing for the proposed expansion of an existing automotive business in Cedar. 

Heartwood Ciders

A Maple City-based LLC called Nyberg Holdings, doing business as Heartwood Ciders, is seeking a site plan approval and special use permit (SUP) to develop parts of a 10-acre property located at 13775 South Lautner Road.

Per the SUP application, that property “is already partially prepared to be planted with [the applicant’s] apple orchard.” Nyberg Holdings wants to build a cidery, tasting room, kitchen room, and parking lot on the property, with the aim to “produce cider from the apples grown on site and from other farms and serve the cider to guests in the proposed tasting room.” The proposed uses are all permitted as special uses for a working agricultural site, in accordance with the Ag-Tourism article (Article XXI) of Solon Township’s zoning ordinance.

Heartwood Ciders is locally-based family business, founded by husband-and-wife team David and Rachel Barnard in collaboration with Ed and Cathy Nyberg, Rachel’s parents. In 2021, David and Rachel made the decision “to resign from our corporate executive careers,” move to northern Michigan, buy a piece of land (pictured), and get into the cider business in Leelanau County, where the Nybergs have long resided. Since then, the Barnards have been documenting their journey to on their YouTube channel, called “Cidery from Scratch.” While none of the four owners have prior experience with cider or agriculture, they have spent the past two and a half years learning and preparing the South Lautner acreage for farming. The Barnards even started their own cider tour bus company, NoMi Tours, to dive into the industry while their farm and cidery plans percolated. Now, provided that all goes according to plan, Heartwood Ciders should finally be ready to open sometime next year.

If approved, Heartwood Ciders would join Leelanau’s thriving community of hard cideries. Already, the county is home to three cider-focused producers and tasting rooms – Tandem Ciders, Two K Farms, and Suttons Bay Ciders, all located in Suttons Bay – while several other Leelanau wineries, such as Green Bird Organic Cellars and Bel Lago Vineyard, also dabble in cider production.

Beyond giving guests an opportunity “to enjoy cider in the tasting room while experiencing the orchard setting,” Heartwood Ciders would also include an on-site kitchen facility (used for “the processing/cooking of food items for sale to tasting room guests”) and an “outdoor patio and seasonal tent” component (which “may be used for on-site events, including parties, weddings, or corporate events”). In addition, the development calls for the construction of an architectural equipment building, a gravel driveway, and a 64-spot parking lot, including space “to accommodate the parking of two wine tour busses/vehicles.”

Heartwood Ciders would operate expanded hours during peak season of May through October.

Special events “may be held within [the abovementioned] hours of operation or during extended hours for evening events like weddings,” the application states, but “such events will cease all music and outdoor noise by 10pm and require guests to leave the premises by 11pm.”

The hearing for the Heartwood Ciders site plan and SUP application will occur during the Solon Township Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, February 6 at 6pm at Solon Township Hall.

Leelanau Automotive expansion

Also getting a public hearing at Tuesday’s meeting is a site plan application from local business proprietor Ryan Thompson, who is seeking to build additional facilities on his already-active business property.

Thompson is the owner of both Leelanau Automotive, described in the application materials as “an automotive maintenance facility”; and Thompson Racing Fabrication, “a custom motor sports facility.” Those businesses are located adjacent to one another in Cedar, at 9166 South Kasson Street and 9162 Kasson Street, respectively. Thompson is proposing a two-phase expansion, including additions to both existing structures in Phase 1 and the construction of a brand-new facility in Phase 2.

The Leelanau Automotive building currently houses four automotive work bays. A proposed addition would add a fifth work bay, measuring 20 feet by 32 feet and allowing the business to hire one additional employee, for a total of six workers at the site.

The Thompson Racing Fabrication facility, meanwhile, would get a 24-foot by 50-foot addition, which “would give more room for the current employees to work in.” According to application materials, employees already use that space “to work on cars outside”; the addition would simply allow the business to take that work indoors.

Phase 2 would build a new 1,920-square-foot facility on the northeastern part of the property to accommodate a third business, called Leelanau Performance. The new building would house “a two-bay automotive repair facility specializing in vehicles owned by car enthusiasts.” According to the application, Leelanau Performance is already part of Thompson’s business group, but “is currently taking one bay of space in the Leelanau Automotive building.” The new facility, which would also incorporate an office/client space, would enable Thompson to expand his business by three employees, bringing the total number across the three ventures to 15.

Thompson hopes to kick off Phase 1 work this spring, with the Phase 2 construction to follow. He anticipates “minimal to no impact on existing infrastructure or the natural environment,” with “minimal traffic generated, maybe 2-5 cars a week added.” His application also outlines plans for minimizing environmental impact, including the installation of a new stormwater basin to contain runoff and a site planning strategy that would strive to remove only “the minimal amount of trees.”