PERRYSBURG, Ohio — After a failed attempt by the Town Center at Levis Commons to create a DORA, or designated outdoor refreshment area, in its mall complex, another group is stepping up to make a proposal.
Downtown business owners from Swig, Rose & Thistle, Casa Barron, Suburban Bottle, and Stella’s, who also originally submitted a proposal for the adult-beverage zone last year to council, will be delivering a revised proposal to city council.
It would ask city leaders to mark off part of downtown Perrysburg (from Front and Louisiana to Third Street and from Third to Walnut) to allow people to drink alcohol outside in specially marked cups during a certain time period.
It's a move local restaurant owners say gives people a new reason to come downtown.
"It's not like it's New Orleans, or Mardi Gras," said Tony Bilancini, owner of Swig, "it's not that situation at all. This is more made toward shopping and events."
Downtown Perrysburg tried to establish a DORA last summer. Restaurant owners at Levis Commons also put forth a proposal and ultimately, city council recommended Levis Commons.
But council members voted the idea down.
Other businesses like Stella's said they went back to the drawing board to see what they could do to improve their application.
"We wanted to do our homework," Stella's owner Patrick Lahey said. "We met with the police chief and other city councilmen looking at what areas they thought could be improved."
Some downtown customers we talked to say they're all for a DORA in that area.
"I think it would be a lot of fun," Swig customer Lori Urban, "I think you'd get a lot more people coming downtown. I think you'd get a different generation of people coming downtown."
"I don't feel any uncomfortable-ness with safety or drinking and driving."
The owner of Meig's clothing shop said it could bring in more foot traffic but doesn't foresee any problems.
"I don't see that it's going to be something where there's people walking all across the streets drinking alcohol," Meig's owner Meigen McIntyre said. "I think it's just a convenience for customers."
Some other customers did express reluctance to the idea believing it doesn't bring in any economic benefit and instead encourages drinking alcohol in a small area for no reason. One customer expressed she would maybe be in favor if the proposal extended the boundaries to the river path.
The business owners met Monday to discuss the proposal and the biggest change they say they will submit the plan to the mayor by the end of the week.
The biggest change organizers stressed with this proposal was that the downtown DORA would be much smaller than Levis' and more defined.
"We keep it away from residential housing," Lahey added. "We did not have any single family units. We wanted to make sure that we excluded them so we kept it very simple right in the business district."
Mayor Tom Mackin did issue a statement Monday acknowledging the application in the following:
"The decision to establish a DORA within the City of Perrysburg requires careful and thoughtful consideration. If the businesses in Downtown Perrysburg choose to submit a revised DORA application to the Mayor’s Office, it will be thoroughly evaluated and I will use the same process used last year to evaluate the applications submitted by both Levis Commons and the Downtown businesses in 2019. When a decision to forward any application to City Council is made, it becomes City Council's responsibility to act."
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