Cities could get OK for outdoor drinking areas

Ohio House passed bill applicable to towns with at least 35K residents.

Ohio is one step closer to having its own versions of Bourbon Street.

The Ohio House passed a bill yesterday that would allow cities or townships of a certain size to create “outdoor refreshment areas” that would be exempt from Ohio’s open-container law.

Rep. Louis Blessing III, a suburban Cincinnati Republican and sponsor of the bill, said the bipartisan legislation is about “economic development.”

“It should come as no surprise that the last four cities to host the Super Bowl either allowed open-container beforehand or created an exemption specifically for that event,” he said.

Cincinnati being the host city of the 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in July is the major impetus for the legislation, which is also sponsored by Denise Driehaus, D-Cincinnati.

Blessing said that given the All-Star Game in the summer, the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next year and the possibility of other events, the legislature should allow refreshment areas statewide rather than case by case.

Under the bill, people in cities or townships with at least 35,000 people could legally buy and drink alcohol within a designated area of a half square mile. Alcoholic beverages are typically not allowed in public areas.

However, partyers wouldn’t be permitted to bring their own drinks; instead, they would have to buy drinks from a vendor in the area. Each area must have a minimum of four liquorpermit holders.

Columbus’ Arena District as well as the Banks in Cincinnati and the Flats in Cleveland could create refreshment areas.

Cities with populations ranging from 35,000 to 50,000 would be allowed one area, and cities with more than 50,000 would be allowed two areas.

Cities with fewer than 35,000 people would be prohibited from creating such areas, but the bill would create a committee to examine the possibility of establishing refreshment areas in small cities.

It would be up to a city to establish a refreshment area, Driehaus said.

She said that while on a trip to Germany, she attended a parade within a refreshment area. ‘It was just a great atmosphere and it was fun, and it attracted many people, thousands of people.’

Originally, the bill, which passed 81-11, would have allowed municipalities and townships with more than 25,000 people to create a refreshment area, but Blessing said the change was made to align with a similar bill in the Senate.

The bill how heads to the Senate.