Board votes to allow wedding barns in town

Weddings and other events may soon become common celebrations in the Town of Port Washington.

The Town Board in December approved an ordinance allowing event venues in the town’s agricultural district after Melissa and James Alexander, who live on her family’s homestead on Highway H, asked about creating a wedding barn on her family’s farm.

Pleasant Valley Dairy Farm has been in the Schlenvogt family — Mrs. Alexander is the former Melissa Schlenvogt — for about 100 years, and while the couple live in the farmhouse they don’t want to continue the tradition of being dairy farmers, they said.

“We want to be able to keep the farm without farming,” Mrs. Alexander said. “We have this beautiful space that’s just perfect for this use.”

No one spoke at a Dec. 7 public hearing on the ordinance, which was then approved by the Town Board.

The ordinance states that event venues are intended to “foster entrepreneurial opportunities in the town that promote the use and preservation of farms and farmland” while safeguarding the agricultural districts.

Event venues are allowed in the town’s agricultural district via a conditional use permit. To qualify, a property must be at least 20 acres and no building can be closer than 100 feet to a lot line of an adjoining parcel in a residential district.

New structures or additions to buildings are permitted for the event venue, but the primary structure must have been erected before Oct. 7, 1996, when the town’s exclusive agricultural zoning district was adopted.

Event venues must be compatible with the agricultural setting and are intended to include such uses as weddings, receptions, corporate events and similar uses, the ordinance states.

The ordinance does not stop people who own farms of less than 20 acres from holding a single event, such as a family wedding, at their home, officials said. Instead, it covers ongoing, commercial uses.

James Alexander said he and his wife both have experience in event management and entertainment that they will put to use in the venue.

“People love to experience that old-time feeling you get in a venue like this,” he said. 

The couple plan to hold events such as festivals and farmers markets that will support area farmers as well as hosting weddings and corporate events, he said.

The couple have been talking about the plans for the past two years, his wife said, and have been working in earnest on them since spring.

They hope to begin hosting events as soon as late summer, she added.

Creating an event venue now is ideal, the couple said, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic has people looking for places where they can be socially distanced and be outdoors.

The venue will have a capacity of about 500 people and will include the barn and a patio. 

Mrs. Alexander, who is the fourth generation of her family on the farm, said the intent is to “bring people to the Town of Port Washington like we’ve done in the City of Port Washington. Port is just such a hidden gem.”