A brewery that announced plans last fall to open in downtown Macon is taking another step toward making that happen.

A rezoning application by Macon Beer Co. to rezone 345 Oglethorpe St. from a central business district to a wholesale and light industrial district to allow a brewery is on Monday’s agenda for the Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission meeting.

Macon Beer Co. was one of 20 finalists in a Macon Mogul competition in 2011 created to encourage small-business ventures in downtown Macon. TailsSpin, a company selling high-quality food and supplies for dogs and cats, won the contest and it opened last fall on Mulberry Street.

Macon Beer plans to operate a microbrewery in a 7,600-square-foot building on the site in order to manufacture craft beer, according to the commission’s staff report. The operation will take place entirely inside the structure.

The finished product would be stored in kegs and sold to a distributing company.

Macon Beer also is planning to offer tours of the brewery and provide free taste samples, according to the report.

The proposed rezoning would allow the manufacturing process, but the company also needs approval of a conditional-use permit to allow for alcohol production in a building zoned for manufacturing.

“Currently, this site is an appropriate location for a brewery due to its proximity to an existing (manufacturing) district,” the staff report states. “The proposal will not significantly impact the surrounding community.

“The development could help to revitalize this section of Oglethorpe Street which consists mainly of vacant buildings.”

The meeting begins at 1:30 p.m. in the 10th floor conference room, Willie C. Hill City Hall Annex, 682 Cherry St.

Other items on the agenda are:

CONDITIONAL USES:

3670 Eisenhower Parkway: Conditional use to allow a church in an existing shopping center, C-2 District. Pastor Richard Reeves; New Jerusalem Christian Center, applicant.

6316 Peake Road: Conditional use to allow retail sales in an existing office/warehouse, PDE District. Tammara Butler, applicant.

To contact writer Linda S. Morris, call 744-4223.