By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
An expanded footprint and calendar were approved for Bowling Green’s downtown DORA Monday evening – but not quite as far as one City Council member proposed.
The change would stretch the Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area to year-round – almost. And it will extend the DORA to the south and east – but not west to Wooster Green.
City Council member Jeff Dennis questioned the limits to the new DORA area – both on the map and on the calendar.
Dennis asked about Wooster Green being added to the expanded DORA footprint. Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter said that no one had petitioned for Wooster Green to be added, but that it could be changed in the future.
“The city is trying to activate this space. I don’t know why we would not do it now,” Dennis said of stretching the DORA into Wooster Green.
Tretter said the city is required to advertise the footprint of the proposed expansion, so adding any more area now would delay the process of getting state approval. She also pointed out that all property in the DORA must be contiguous. At the request of the police division, city officials had decided to not recommend that the DORA cover any downtown parking lots.
City Attorney Mike Marsh recommended that City Council approve the proposed DORA expansion, then study how Wooster Green might be added in the future while avoiding parking lots.
Council member Joel O’Dorisio voiced concern that a DORA on Wooster Green could pose problems to the residential neighbors of the open space.
Dennis also questioned the new calendar year for the DORA, which would cover all but the three days of the Black Swamp Festival each year. He expressed concern about a DORA “carveout” for one organization, and suggested the city consider no exceptions for the annual arts festival.
Marsh said the festival’s F-permit for alcohol covers much of the city’s Parking Lot 2, where the musical acts perform on the main stage. Allowing alcoholic beverages on Main Street would make it very difficult for festival volunteers to police, Marsh said. Festival organizers have also asked that alcohol not be permitted in the artists’ display areas on Main Street.
Tretter explained that DORA businesses will be educated prior to the festival weekend about not selling the DORA cups during the festival.
Todd Ahrens, chair of this year’s Black Swamp Arts Festival, said there would not be enough volunteers to staff a larger area for alcoholic beverages.
“The Black Swamp committee didn’t want to assume responsibility for behavior all over town,” Marsh said, adding that the liability insurance would be very expensive. “We tried to create a balance that everybody could live with.”
The city first established its DORA in 2020, both in response to the pandemic and ongoing community discussions about continuing efforts to activate the downtown area.
“The DORA has been successful in Bowling Green,” Tretter said to City Council last month. The goal was to position the city as a vibrant destination of entertainment, culture and activity.
“Participating businesses have reported success,” she said.
The changes proposed in the application include:
- Expanded footprint. The current area on South Main Street would be extended to include the parking lot off East Clough Street. The area would also be stretched to the east, to the corner of Wooster and Prospect streets on the south, and to the Community Commons on the north side.
- Expanded time period. DORA would be permitted year-round, with the exception of the Friday-Sunday on the weekend after Labor Day when the annual Black Swamp Arts Festival is held. DORA will be suspended during the festival, at the request of the organizers, to avoid confusion that weekend since the footprint for the festival is different, and DORA could cause enforcement issues.
- Additional businesses have sought, or are planning to seek DORA applications.
The signs stating the boundaries of the DORA will be moved to match the new limits once approved.
A public hearing was held prior to Monday’s City Council meeting, with one citizen, Raul Ascunce, voicing his support for the DORA changes.
“I think extending the DORA thing is an excellent idea,” Ascunce said, adding that he also would like to see the DORA footprint go as far west as Wooster Green.
Ascunce questioned the ecological wisdom of the DORA businesses using plastic cups to be discarded in the trash.
“We should have permanent bins for recycling because that’s going to be a lot of plastic going in the trash,” Ascunce said.
Both council members Jeff Dennis and Bill Herald said downtown recycling is being evaluated. And Dennis mentioned that DORA cups in downtown Perrysburg are compostable.
In the expanded application, the following businesses have committed to retaining or adding their DORA designation:
- Bar 149
- Beckett’s
- City Tap and The Attic
- Doc’s Big City Saloon
- Juniper Brewing Co.
- Mr. Spots
- Myla Marcus Winery
- Clay Pot/Naslada
- SamB’s Restaurant
- Stone’s Throw Tavern & Grill
- Trotter’s Tavern
The hours of operation for the DORA will be Mondays through Thursdays, from 4 to 10 p.m., and Fridays through Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The last sales will occur no later than 9:30 p.m., and all cups must be disposed of by 10 p.m.
The Bowling Green Police Division has committed to the continued patrol and monitoring of the downtown and the DORA as often as possible during the times of DORA operation. The security plan will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.
If it is determined by the municipal administrator that additional security is needed in the DORA, the city reserves the right to suspend operation of the DORA until the situation is resolved.
The city’s Public Works Department will monitor the use of trash receptacles during the DORA operation, and may adjust frequency of collection during regular operation hours if necessary. Establishments in the DORA that have liquor permits to serve alcohol on their premises will maintain a trash receptacle of adequate size near the main entrance of the businesses.
The Bowling Green DORA rules are:
- A person may possess an opened container of beer, wine or liquor at an outdoor location in the DORA if it was purchased from the business in the DORA.
- A person may not enter an establishment in the DORA while possessing an opened container acquired elsewhere.
- A person may not possess an opened container while being in a motor vehicle in a DORA, except as permitted for commercial quadricycles.
- All beer, wine and liquor must be contained in the official cup of the DORA.
- Only one official cup will be permitted at a time per DORA participant.
- All DORA beverages must be served in a new, unused official cup.
- Used official cups must be disposed of before entering an establishment that serves alcohol in the DORA.
- Private property owners reserve the right to prohibit the consumption of alcohol on their property.
- DORA participants are expected to follow all the rules of the DORA and maintain a decorum of good behavior, free of public drunkenness, property destruction, or any action that disrupts the enjoyment of another participant or disrupts any establishment, property owner, resident, visitor, passerby or patron within the DORA.
