A petition filed by the Downtown Dayton Partnership seeks to replace the current outdoor refreshment area with a much larger one that would include many of downtown’s businesses.
The public hearing will occur at Wednesday’s 6 p.m. Dayton City Commission meeting, but a final vote on the measure will happen in the future, not at Wednesday’s meeting.
Some downtown drinking establishments say they strongly support expanding the drinking district.
Many people conflate the Designated Outdoor Drinking District with “Out on 5th,” which is the program that shuts down East Fifth Street in the Oregon District to vehicular traffic on weekends during the warmer weather months, said Tony Kroeger, Dayton’s division manger of planning and land use.
Credit: Tom Gilliam
Credit: Tom Gilliam
The outdoor drinking district operates all year round, and it has nothing to do with street closures, he said.
An expanded DORA would allow downtown establishments and their patrons to use more of the sidewalk public space, instead of being limited to hanging out and enjoying drinks in fenced-in areas, Kroeger said.
Ohio is home to more than 100 DORAs, said Kroeger, adding, “I think it has been demonstrated that DORAs can operate successfully in many different environments.”
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