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Posted: 6:08 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015
Public hearing next step for open container
area
By http://www.journal-news.com/staff/ed-richter/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN —
Middletown has taken the first steps to possibly become
the first city in Ohio
to establish a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area.
City
Council heard a presentation from Law Director Les Landen and Public Safety
Director David VanArsdale on the proposed plan to establish a DORA in a
half-mile space within the city’s entertainment district during its meeting
Tuesday.
After
the presentation, there were a couple general questions about the statute, but
council members said they wanted to hold a public hearing on the proposal to
gather more input from residents and businesses. Landen said the new law gives
council the option to hold a hearing or not.
Landen
thinks the legislation to authorize the DORA would be before council in
November.
“Upon
adoption we notify Division of Liquor Control, which issues permit holders
within DORA an outdoor refreshment area designation,” Landen said in an email.
“(There’s) No timeframe for that in the statute.”
“This
is new law, so we’re working our way through things,” said City Manager Doug
Adkins.
The
DORA is designed to assist several downtown establishments and enhance the
budding downtown entertainment district has been completed.
The
proposed DORA is bounded by Clark Street, Manchester Avenue, South Canal
Street, Columbia Avenue including Donham Plaza, North Main Street, including
the buildings on the northwest corner of North Main and Central Avenue, Central
Avenue to the Great Miami River and around the southern edge of Forest Hills
Country Club, Water Street and around the American Legion on South Main Street
to First Avenue, to South Canal Street, to Reynolds Avenue to Curtis Street to
Central Avenue back to Clark Street.
City
officials said the DORA’s area can be adjusted as necessary.
In
that area, there are five state liquor permit holders: At the Square; Murphy’s
Landing; The Canal House; The American Legion; and Forest
Hills. The area also includes possible future locations such as
the Manchester Hotel, the proposed microbrewery/tap room in the Snider
Ford/Sonshine building and other ventures in the works.
According
to the proposed plan, the DORA will be in operation from 6 p.m. to midnight on
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and at any other times established by the
chief of police with the concurrence of City Council through a council motion.
For
large special events, the city may require the organizer to hire off-duty
police officers for safety reasons. The city will be adding 10 trash
receptacles to the 32 already in the DORA, and the city’s collector will
service all receptacles once a week with additional collections as needed.
While
this would be an open container area, the beverages would be required to be
purchased at establishments within the DORA, city officials have said. Patrons
can purchase and walk around with a beverage, but they cannot take that
beverage into another establishment. It also does not allow people to bring
their own beverages into that area and drink there. City officials also said
that public intoxication ordinances would be enforced as well as open container
law for people bringing in their own beverages.
The
law, House Bill 47, allows cities or townships with populations ranging from
35,000 to 50,000 to designate one “outdoor refreshment area” where people could
legally walk outside with open containers of alcohol, exempting them from Ohio’s open-container
law, which generally prohibits a person from carrying an open container of beer
or liquor in public.
The
law could have a significant economic impact not only in Middletown,
but throughout Butler
County, with some
communities keenly interested in such districts and the revenue they may
generate.
OK folks what important information did I
missed concerning this law?
I thought Downtown Middletown Inc. wanted to make the downtown area “family
friendly”.
Why does downtown Middletown even need this law?
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