Tractor Brewing got some good news at the Nob Hill Neighborhood Association meeting on Thursday night. The governing panel voted on whether or not to push through an amendment to the ordinance that prevents packaged liquor sales in Nob Hill, which keeps Tractor from selling growlers out of its taproom. In a show of support for local business, five panelists voted yes and three abstained. That pushes the amendment forward to the city council, said Tractor manager Dave Forster, where it already has support from city councilor Rey Garduno, who will officially file the amendment petition in the coming weeks.

If the city council approves the amendment it will move on to the Environmental Planning Committee and, provided it passes there, would go back to the council for the final vote.

If this all sounds complicated, it is. Considering the original text of the massive Nob Hill Highland Sector Development Plan, where the tiny notation on liquor sales is found on page 84 of the entry titled “Nob Hill Draft Sector Planned Components” stating simply “Alcoholic beverage sales for off-premise consumption are not allowed.” This is due to the classification of Nob Hill as a CCR-2 land use, which, translated from legalese, just means the neighborhood is bound by overlapping laws and restrictions due to the proximity of residential neighborhoods to the businesses along Central.

Got all that? No? Even for a seasoned journalist, this goes back to Reporting Public Affairs in college, but beer-loving sportswriters who got C’s in that class can only provide so much of an explanation.

A positive sum-up goes like this: the neighborhood association will not oppose Tractor’s efforts to sell growlers. Now it will be up to the city council. Hopefully things will continue to move quickly (by government standards) and the beer will flow again.

Stay tuned for more news as it comes in, and keep supporting Tractor by visiting the taproom. La Cumbre’s Elevated IPA will be making a guest appearance, the deliciously potent Black IPA is still on tap and the first in a series of Belgian ales will be arriving next week.