St. Clairsville mulling zone for a outdoor drinking area
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Outdoor alcohol consumption could be in the cards for the city of St. Clairsville. During the last council meeting, Planning and Zoning Director Tom Murphy said his office has received a proposal to establish a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA).
"The city was approached by the owners of the Newellstown Diner," Murphy said. "I think it's definitely something council should look at. I could assist at being the lead on that."
The owners of Newellstown Diner are Councilwoman Terra Butler, and officer T.J. Stewart of the city police.
Murphy said the state allows for the city council to set up a specific area, usually downtown, involving businesses such as restaurants that sell alcoholic beverages.
The Ohio General Assembly amended the Ohio Revised Code (Section 4301.82), effective on March 23, 2022, to create this exemption from certain open container provisions.
"Rather than just the designated spot in front of that business which then can take up some of the sidewalk if there's sidewalk dining, it designates a portion of that downtown on your main street to allow someone to purchase alcohol, where they purchased it at the restaurant, they can sit down or stroll through the street," Murphy said.
"Council would come up with the guidelines and ultimately have to vote on them. I thought it was a good idea to set up a committee," he said. "Everything's very preliminary now."
Council members Beth Oprisch, Kristi Lipscomb and J.C. Thrash volunteered. The committee will meet, discuss the city's situation and potential guidelines, then make a recommendation to council in the future.
"It's not going to be a quick thing, unfortunately, but at least it gets us started," Murphy said.
Oprish suggested gathering information about other communities with DORA areas.
"I think it's a good idea," Oprisch said. "Let's discuss this."
Lipscomb said she is familiar with some communities with DORA areas. Murphy added there are close to 100 communities in the state that have established DORA zones.
Thrash spoke further after the meeting about the potential and possible problems of such a move.
"I think there's a lot of pluses and a lot of minuses. It would give our younger generation something fun to do that they normally wouldn't get to do around here, but on the negative side, it also allows for over intoxication and we definitely have to sit back and look at the rules and regulations and if we really want to move forward when we talk to the police department and other departments about the risk involved in this, and talk to other communities to figure out if we really want to give this a go," he said. "We've really got to take a really hard look at this. It's not something that's going to happen anytime soon."
Thrash said he hopes to place a recommendation before the council after two or three committee meetings.
After the meeting, Butler said she would likely recuse herself from a vote when the committee places a recommendation before council.
Last year, an outdoor refreshment area was designated in the village of Bellaire.
The committee will hold its first meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the council chambers, 100 North Market St. Members of the public are invited to attend, and anyone with questions may call 740-695-1324 during business hours of 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.