The Westover Market is moving forward with plans to make its popular beer garden conform to county regulations.
Arlington County recently approved a building permit that will allow the market to build Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant bathrooms — one step in the beer garden approval process. The other step will come on May 14, when Westover Market goes before the county board to ask for a live entertainment permit, which is necessary in order for the beer garden to host musical acts.
At the moment, the market is only permitted to seat nine people in the beer garden, which used to host large neighborhood gatherings.
Not everybody supports the market’s effort to become an entertainment and drinking venue, however. Before the county clamped down, a cadre of anonymous complainers would call authorities to kvetch about noise from the garden and smoke from its fire pits.