City considers outdoor area for adult beverages

CELINA - City officials on Monday night uncorked a free-flowing discussion on creating an outdoor refreshment area where people would be permitted to walk around with alcoholic beverages.

Though officials at this point are far from forming a consensus on the matter, some at city council's committee of the whole meeting supported the notion of crafting a proposal to put before voters at the spring primary election.

Mayor Jeff Hazel thinks a voter initiative is the best way to proceed. Councilman Mark Fleck agreed.

"Because I think people should decide something along these lines," Hazel said.

Some downtown merchants, Hazel said, would like people to be able to stroll back and forth with an open alcohol container during events such as Taste of Celina, when Main Street is closed for people to sample food items from numerous vendors.

A Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area permit, would allow for that to happen, Hazel said. A municipality with 35,000 or fewer people could establish one DORA spanning up to 150 contiguous acres, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce. The DORA would have to encompass at least four-liquor permit holders.

"It allows folks to take like a beer out in the street in a designated area and it would be that law enforcement would not enforce open-container laws," Hazel said.

In forging a DOCA, councilors would have to establish specific boundaries, signage, hours of operation, personnel needed to ensure public safety, a sanitation plan and requirements that beer and liquor be served solely in plastic bottles or other plastic containers in the area, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce.

"I think one of the big questions that came out to me (was), 'Why do we want drinking night and day?' " Hazel noted. "Well, it doesn't mean that. You can designate the day. You can designate the time frame. Everything can be designated and certainly the space of it."

Officials at Monday's meeting anticipated that the DORA would be active only a few times each year.

Councilman June Scott asked how much the proposal would cost and who would pay for it.

City safety service director Tom Hitchcock said the city would incur no cost in applying for a DOCA. But it would need to have a security plan in place, meaning a police presence.

"Normally whoever has the liquor permit pays for the officers," Hitchcock said. "This one, is it going to be at least four liquor permit holders within the DORA?"

Hazel opposed the idea of the city's picking up the cost for police officers working at a DORA event.

"I don't know that the city should be responsible to pay for additional security on an event downtown because that would be general fund dollars, and that's not an appropriate expenditure of that money."

Councilman Myron Buxton asked why liquor permit holders involved in events such as Taste of Celina can't seek out their own liquor permit, as do other organizations that hold summer events

"There can be three permit holders in that downtown area that could apply for (an applicable permit) … they've opted not to do that, and I can't answer why or why not," Hazel said.

Councilman Mike Sovinski said a DOCA could help bolster economic development.

"Part of what's good about this proposal is any time you can bring more activity into your downtown, the healthier it should be and more vibrant the whole city looks," Sovinski said. "People judge cities by how their downtowns are."

He suggested councilors come up with a plan identifying the particulars of a Celina DOCA.

"I think we would be not diligent in not pursuing it because I think we need to do everything we can to try to improve the business atmosphere in this town, especially in the downtown," Sovinski continued.

However, councilman Jeff Larmore questioned if a DOCA would spark much economic development apart from the handful of downtown liquor permit holders.

"I might be wrong, but I kind of got the impression that a lot of those downtown businesses really didn't want it out in the street," he said. "They'd rather have people stay in their own establishment and have cocktails and food because they're going to sell more if they're inside."

Larmore said he's not against pursuing a DOCA, but stressed that downtown merchants should play a big role, underscoring the fact that none of them was in attendance at Monday night's meeting.

"I just think if we do this, downtown merchants need to prove to me they really want that done and they're going to have some skin in the game," Larmore said.

No action was taken.