City City meets in special session to approve DORA District

Once Governor Gretchen Whitmer signs the bill approved June 24 by the Michigan Legislature, the City of Belleville will be ready to immediately establish the Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area.
House Bill 5781 allows the city council to designate a social district which contains a commons area to be used by qualified licensees that have obtained a social district permit.
It’s called the “cocktails to go” law because patrons would be able to buy a specially marked cup for an alcoholic beverage that would allow them to walk and drink throughout the district.
The city council held a special meeting at 10 a.m. Friday, June 26, via Zoom, to discuss DORA and set the boundaries of the district so they will be ready to start.
Present at the meeting was John Winter of Egan’s who has been leading the city’s movement to set up the district. He shared information on DORA and said the $250-a-year permit could be applied for by Egan’s once the governor signs the bill and the district is set.
The district would benefit both the Bayou and Johnny’s but has not been discussed with them. Winter said it would hinge on whether they wish to pay the $250 annual permit fee.
After discussion, Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Marcotte made a motion to set the social district boundaries on Main Street from Third to High Street, including Fourth Street Square and Fourth Street, High Street and Horizon Park just past the gazebo and back down Roys Street to Main.
The motion was seconded by Councilman Tom Fielder and passed on a 4-1 vote, with Councilman Ken Voigt voting no.
Councilman Voigt had asked the council to hold off setting the district until after a city representative could talk to Pastor Robert White of Grace Baptist Church, whose church will be encircled by the district.
“I don’t feel comfortable voting before talking to the church,” Voigt said.
Winter said that those with Liquor Control Commission permits, like Egan’s, already are approved as far as distance from the church goes.
“I know how Johnny’s got around it and won’t discuss that,” Winter said.
“It would be a courtesy to contact them,” Voigt said. He said the church has its annual Fourth of July party on High Street and Sunday service time. “We should be respectful.”
He said obviously the bars are not open when the church is holding its services.
Councilwoman Kelly Bates asked if they know if the Bayou and Johnny’s are interested.
Mayor Kerreen Conley said that participants have to be licensed with the LCC and, “This doesn’t mean both have to apply. We wouldn’t do it for one business.”
Marcotte said to include Hildago’s in the district would mean making the whole city a district, which they don’t want to do. Marcotte said a restaurant like Hildago’s would be more interested in outdoor dining to help its business.
Marcotte recommended being mindful of the church, so they are not surrounded and it doesn’t interfere with their service.
Councilman Fielder said Pastor White has been very, very good to the city and the city doesn’t want to conflict with his church.
“If he says he doesn’t want alcohol for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, I’m going to approve it anyway,” Fielder said. “A discussion with him would not change that I think it is a good idea.”
Mayor Conley said the council could establish the district hours at its July 6 meeting after talking to Pastor White.
“If he said no, I wouldn’t vote no,” Fielder insisted.
Voigt said that wouldn’t work for him.
When discussing how the council didn’t want the district to encircle First Baptist Church, Marcotte said during the car show there is parking on Roys and with the coronavirus they will have to spread out on Roys and that’s why he included it.
As to the docks at Horizon Park, Councilwoman Bates said she and her husband enjoy fishing and it might be good to include the docks.
“We’d be fooling ourselves if we want to ban it from the docks,” Renaud said.
Winter said when he’s on a boat, he has seen some very strange things going on at the docks. He asked if the docks were technically on Van Buren Township territory and Downtown Development Authority Coordinator Carol Thompson said they have a township document that gives the city responsibility for the docks and that was used in getting the grants.
Bates also suggested including Doane’s Landing, but that was said to be a logical phase two, including when Scott Jones is done with his building at the north end.
Fielder asked if the governor signed the law next week, what does the city have to do?
City Manager Tracey Kobylarz said they would put up signs to be ordered through the Department of Public Works and paid for by the DDA.
Alyssia McGovern, DDA president, said it was already approved by the DDA.
Mayor Conley said they can be ordered and put up without any future action.
Voigt, a retired police officer, asked if it is legal for the city to do this without it being signed into law.
Mayor Conley said they could ask the city attorney, but she was certain it was legal.
Fielder suggested not buying anything until it was signed by the governor.
City Manager Kobylarz said DORA already is in effect in the City of Plymouth. She said the city worked with Wayne County to close the streets.
“Then, why do we need a law?” Voigt asked.
Police Chief Dave Robinson said it changes what the LCC does and gives the LCC marching orders on what can be done.
“I don’t understand how a municipality can do that without the law being passed,” Voigt said.
Winter said enforcement will be on the city and Plymouth didn’t want to lose its 29 bars.
“As long as the police enforce, who’s going to mess with them?” Winter said, adding that was his idea on the situation and he didn’t know they were thinking.
Thompson said other DDAs are using outside seating ordinances and the Michigan Municipal League says DORA districts will have to submit hours.
“Once we know what the hours are – the days and hours – we can do the signs,” Thompson said.
Kobylarz suggested they set the hours immediately, but Mayor Conley said it would be a courtesy to talk with the Baptist Church before setting the hours.
Marcotte suggested, with respect to the hours, to also contact the Methodist Church. He said there could be different hours for different areas of the district.
Fielder asked what the LCC hours are and Winter said at Egan’s their hours are 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., seven days a week. He suggested the district hours could be 4-10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, at the Monday car show, and at special events.
Fielder said the park hours are dawn to dusk and Winter suggested one hour past dusk for the closing of the district in the park.
“Is it possible to have a sign to identify the district and another sign for time and days, added later?” Fielder asked.
McGovern asked if it could be put on the city sign that the DORA district is open from this time to that time?
Fielder said the hours and days can be screwed in underneath on the sign pole.
Chief Robinson said that is often done for special events where no-parking is put in place.
Mayor Conley said there could be a big delay with the other things they need to do under the law, such as designing the logo for the cups, ordering the cups, and businesses applying for the permits.
“We haven’t seen a permit yet,” Winter said. “You would have to vote on a DORA district first.”
“The action we took today should satisfy that,” Mayor Conley said.
Mayor Conley said they will have the administration meet with the Baptist Church before the next meeting when they will set the times and days.
Chief Robinson said the “BORA/dora” logo will have to be on the cups and the city’s signs.
Kobylarz said she made that up: the Belleville Social District including DORA, which she dubbed the “BORA dora!”
She said the council could call it what they want.
Voigt said he can take care of designing the logo and Mayor Conley said she wouldn’t want the city logo on the cups.
“I trust Ken, the creative one of the bunch,” she said, referring to the council.