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WARREN -- Council members on Tuesday heard from Shawn Carvin, who chairs the public relations committee for the Downtown Warren Alliance, as the city continues to consider the alliance's proposal to form a designated outdoor refreshment area (DORA) in Courthouse Square and some surrounding streets.
Carvin, who also serves as the executive director of the Ohio Land Bank Association, said the refreshment areas have been authorized by Ohio law since 2015.
"For anyone who's been to Cleveland on East Fourth, or Columbus, Columbiana, they all have DORAs," Carvin said. "They're event-specific in some cities, other cities ... like downtown Cleveland, East Fourth, is all the time."
Per the considered legislation, the potential DORA in Warren would be "event-specific," limited to certain hours of operation, including every weekend starting Friday at noon and ending at 2 a.m. Sunday; certain hours on New Year's Eve; St. Patrick's Day; Mardi Gras; Cinco De Mayo; Memorial Day; Fourth of July; Labor Day; Halloween; the Wednesday before Thanksgiving; Christmas Eve and others "as determined by the special event permitting process."
The proposed DORA would wrap around Courthouse Square as well as a portion of West Market Street to just across the river, East Market Street to just past Elm Road, as well as a portion of Vine Avenue. That area would be designated as exempt from certain open container provisions as laid out in Ohio Revised Code Section 4301.82.
"People would be able to roam around this specific area or a smaller area within this," Carvin said. "If just the bars on the square wanted to do this, it would only be the bars on the square. Or, if it wanted to be the whole DORA, you could make it the whole DORA. This sets the district that you could have that in."
Carvin said there are 12 qualified liquor permit holders within the proposed DORA. If any of the establishments wants to enact the DORA during one of the allowable dates and times, it must have support of 75% of the other qualified liquor establishments in the outlined area.
Carvin said those who plan to use the DORA cannot simply walk the streets with any open container. They can only do so with specific and clearly marked cups that will be distributed by the participating establishments. Carvin said other localities include other identification such as wristbands for those wanting to participate.
CITY OPINIONS
Not all officials at the meeting were thrilled with the plan.
Councilwoman At-Large Helen Rucker said she believed council should have had more input on the creation of the legislation.
"I think the legislation is not ready for passage because it's not tight," she said. "This is council's first meeting on this with no input. You brought it to us and you decided what it was going to be without council. And you're asking us to pass it without any detail from council about what we want in it. For me, who supports a DORA, I would vote no. As this piece is, I would vote no."
Members at the meeting discussed two potential changes to the legislation. Instead of having the typical hours of operation for the DORA be noon to 2 a.m., they would instead be noon to midnight. Council members also wanted to see the permitting fee for the DORA be the same as those for other downtown events.
Most city officials in attendance at the meeting seemed to advocate for the creation of the DORA
Police Chief Eric Merkel said he supports the plan.
"I'm for it," he said.
Council President John Brown said he did research on Ohio DORAs in the past and that he did not find any communities who went back on the decision.
"Everybody that's done it has expanded," he said. "Nobody said 'this didn't work' and stopped their DORA ... It was all positive that I saw."
Carvin said the popularity of DORA's is increasing throughout Ohio. He said based on statistics acquired from the Ohio Department of Development last year, the state saw a 300% increase in DORAs in 2023. He said Ohio is nearing 1,000 such areas.
The legislation is in first reading. There is a public hearing regarding the DORA scheduled at 5 p.m. July 10.