MOUNT VERNON — One year after Mount Vernon City Council approved DORA events, Downtown Manager Anthony McNeal said results are mixed.
“Public perception has been positive,” he told council on Monday night. “At this point, nobody has given us negative feedback.”
At the same time, he said that because of the way council structured DORA (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) events, the economic development impact is lacking.
Under DORA, customers buy alcohol in a specially marked cup. A DORA event can be held anywhere within a prescribed downtown area.
However, unlike other DORAs that allow consumers to take their cup and roam throughout the entire DORA area, Mount Vernon’s DORA is site-specific and creates boundaries for each event.
For example, a DORA event at Flapper’s Bar & Grille confines patrons to a small area around the restaurant. Merchants say this restriction reduces the impact for neighboring businesses.
The Mount Vernon Music & Arts Festival was the only event where patrons could freely walk through the entire event. McNeal said it had an impact because it was in place for three days and guests could walk throughout the whole festival except for the Kids Fest area.
“Events like these do not occur often enough to have an economic development impact,” he said. “Because we are having to put up temporary event structures, people are not able to take their cup and walk through the downtown.”
McNeal said event boundaries create confusion among visitors and customers and cause Experience Mount Vernon staff to take extra measures to explain about event boundaries vs DORA boundaries. Additionally, boundaries require staff to spend time setting up and tearing down boundaries for each event.
Another issue with having site-specific boundaries is that merchants have to market DORA as well as individual event regulations.
McNeal said there is a police presence at most events, but there have been no police or fire incidents related to DORA. He noted that normal police patrol would have been sufficient.
Downtown merchants support DORA, with several requesting expansion of hours and days. Dr. Henry Spaulding of Mount Vernon Nazarene University said in a statement that while MVNU advocates total abstinence from alcohol, the university is balancing that with being a good neighbor.
“As long as permanent signage can be placed on MVNU property that does not allow alcohol to be consumed on MVNU property, then it is not our role to stand in the way of the initiative,” he wrote. “MVNU controls their property, but it is not going to tell other property owners how to handle their initiative.”
Under Mount Vernon’s DORA ordinance, KSAAT (Knox Substance Abuse Action Team) receives $1 from the sale of each DORA cup. To date, $2,500 has gone to KSAAT to help with drug and alcohol prevention and awareness.
Experience Mount Vernon handles purchase and distribution of the cups. KSAAT said it wants to take over that responsibility since it is the organization making money on sales.
KSAAT has also received calls from other coalitions across Ohio asking about how Mount Vernon’s DORA operates, specifically the $1 per cup and reporting mechanisms.
McNeal asked council to modify the DORA ordinance, specifically asking for the following:
•Remove the event-based requirement (hours of operation will remain Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, Monday through Friday 4 pm to 11:59 pm, and Saturday 11 am to 11:59 pm)
•Remove the specific temporary event boundaries (permanent signs will be bought and placed at boundaries of DORA overlay and on all MVNU property, including South Main Plaza)
He recommends, however, that the DORA approval committee remain in place as a resource for event facilitation and guidance.
“We feel that we have shown over the last year we are responsible citizens here in Mount Vernon. … We’re responsible, we would just like to be able to drink responsibly within our DORA,” McNeal said.
