PENDLETON — Pendleton is looking at creating an area downtown that would allow people to move about more freely with certain alcoholic beverages.
At Thursday’s Pendleton Town Council meeting, the town conducted an introductory discussion on establishing a designated outdoor refreshment area (DORA) downtown.
Led by the town’s community development coordinator, Carey Craig, a presentation on the planned DORA was shown to the public and the council. Prior to the meeting, Craig met with stakeholders and business owners inside the proposed DORA boundary to discuss ideas.
A DORA is a specified area of land that a local legislative authority has designated as exempt from the carryout restrictions placed upon retail establishments that have an alcoholic beverage permit. It allows patrons 21 or older to purchase a beverage from an establishment in the DORA that can be taken outdoors to be consumed within the DORA boundary.
Last July, a state law came into effect allowing municipalities to have seven DORAs. The town hopes to establish just one downtown to start with the hours of noon to 8 p.m. Sundays and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
The proposed DORA in Pendleton is irregularly shaped. The bulk of the DORA is L-shaped: the perimeter — starting at the corner of Water Street and Pendleton Avenue — runs east on Water Street to Broadway Street; south to State Street; west to Main Street; north to the first alley; east back to Broadway Street, and north back to Water Street. The proposed DORA also includes a portion of Pendleton Avenue roadway, immediately south of State Street, which is often closed to traffic to allow food vendors to set up during town events.
Those boundaries might change subject to obtaining all necessary approvals.
The goal of a DORA is to give the local government greater say in who vendors are and where they can be located during downtown events, and to help local downtown restaurants who normally could not engage in a festival or event that has a temporary beer or wine permit.
“This allows our brick-and-mortar restaurants and establishments that are here 365 days a year, when there is an event going on downtown it gives them some skin in the game and protection from losing business to food vendors that set up,” town council President Marissa Skaggs. “This could be good on days like Christmas in Pendleton and those sorts of events. We just need to work it all out and find a mutually agreeable solution for everyone. If done properly, it could be a good thing for everybody.”
While the goal is to help establishments inside of the DORA, each can choose whether to participate.
Various rules that a DORA must follow include:
The town must place signage notifying people when they are leaving the boundary of the DORA.
Patrons inside the DORA can order a maximum of two drinks at a time.
Beer can be no more than 16 ounces in volume; wine, cider or seltzers can be no more than 12 ounces; and mixed drinks can be no more than 10 ounces and can have no more than two ounces of liquor.
Cups inside of the DORA cannot be glass, must be non-breakable and must have the DORA logo on them established by the town.
Along with those rules, the town discussed the idea of making patrons buy wristbands when taking a beverage outside and into the DORA. The use of wristbands was recommended by Jessica Allen, chairwoman of the Indiana Tobacco and Alcohol Commission.
“This can be a good thing, but we all need to be on the same page. We can’t dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t,’ but three days into this thing I don’t want to have handcuffs slapped on me because I did something wrong that we didn’t think of,” said Garry Brammer, owner of The Bank Restaurant on State Street. “We need to get input from a committee and stakeholders, and find out how other communities are doing it. I just want to find out more about it.”
While the planned ordinance had its introductory discussion, Skaggs said hopes are that revisions will be made, and the first official reading of the ordinance can take place during the town’s August meeting.
That meeting is set for 6 p.m. Aug. 8 at town hall, 100 W. State St.
