Steubenville Council discusses a designation for downtown
Trending
STEUBENVILLE -- City Council made it clear Tuesday there's a lot of work to be done before they'll consider applying for a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area, or DORA, downtown.
Members, meanwhile, also were informed four juveniles have been charged in connection with recent vandalism at Murphy Park.
City Manager Jim Mavromatis said the police department "did a great job" identifying and arresting those believed responsible for the damage.
"We had cameras, they caught the subjects leaving that area," Mavromatis said. "They were later identified and interviewed. They were all juveniles, all four of them. Two of them appear to be the main culprits."
He said the four "destroyed a sink and a urinal."
"We're waiting to get cost estimates for the repairs," he said, adding "Parents are liable for the actions of their kids."
The four will be adjudicated in Jefferson County Juvenile Court.
Council, meanwhile, got its first look at proposed guidelines for a DORA in the central business district, patterned after one the city of Marietta developed several years ago. The draft, put together by the Harmonium Project, is meant as a starting point for city council, the group's president, Marc Barnes, explained.
"This is all subject to change," Barnes said. "This is going to be your outdoor DORA."
To get approval from the state Department of Liquor Control, municipalities must submit documentation showing specific boundaries, including street addresses, included in the DORA; hours of operation, the staffing numbers needed to ensure public safety within the DORA and a sanitation plan. Council would also have to decide "how they want to have the beverages ... basically, what kind of containers they'd be in."
"You, the legislative authority, need to legislate all that information and copy it as well into your ordinance," he said.
The draft, which Barnes said was based entirely on Marietta's "very successful" DORA, suggested designating DORA hours as 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Saturday; allowing qualified establishments in the downtown business district to sell beer and liquor outdoors provided they stay in the central business district and the adult beverages are in an approved carrier. He said Marietta also prohibits patrons from wandering from establishment to establishment to fill up the same cup, nor are they allowed to drive with an open container, even in a DORA.
He said they prepared the draft "so you get a sense of how you, as a city, want this thing to look." He also pointed out the hours of operation "really is a city decision. You can do it one day a week, you can do it every day of the week ..."
Mayor Jerry Barilla voiced concern with how a DORA designation could have unintended consequences on, say, the summer concert series at Berkman Amphitheater: A large, alcohol-fueled crowd congregating for the weekly concert could set the stage for problems.
"Who's going to police it?" he asked Barnes.
Others were fearful that the hours penciled into the draft could cause problems for church-goers, school children walking home from school and non-drinking shoppers.
"There's pros and cons," Second Ward Councilman Tracy McManamon pointed out, asking Barnes if the any of the business owners he'd talked to had voted on it. He said it's imperative city officials "have the ability to say an establishment can't participate" if they don't follow the rules.
"The city has the power to regulate," Barnes said. "At the end of the day, if there's an institution that's not complying with the regulations ... yeah, there's no automatic participation."
Fourth Ward Councilman Royal Mayo felt the DORA as it was identified in the draft document was too big and asked if they'd talked to schools, churches and people living in the target zone to gauge their feelings.
"From South Street to North Street, that's a lot of area for people to just be able to walk around with alcohol, drinking in the street," he said. "That's why I wondered if you contacted the churches, people live in area, the schools."
Barnes said they simply used the outline of the central business district for the DORA boundaries. "If the space is too big, make it smaller," he said, pointing out they'd tried to incorporate areas with restaurants currently serving alcohol.
"The point of all this is to simply say what do you want?" he said. "This has worked in other cities, to revitalize (them), make an environment that you want to go to ... and honestly, when you go to other cities the vibe is really family friendly."
Fifth Ward Councilman Willie Paul told council he had a lot of questions.
"As Mr. Barnes stated, it is what we make it," he said. "(But) I think we need to discuss it a little more ... it needs tweaked, some things in it. I don't want to be a party-pooper ... but I'm just looking out for the safety of the citizens."
Third Ward Councilwoman Heather Hoover said the suggested hours of operation were too long and the area too large, saying she agrees with Mayo that "we need to talk to the churches, schools and other residents."
"My view is this is presented by a few men," Barilla said. "It's a few men and their ideas ... you have to take it in context and decide, is this what the people of the downtown (want)?"
Paul said council "can work on this" to make the document reflect Steubenville's unique needs.
"I think this is one more reason it has to go back to committee," McManamon said.