Planning board OKs downtown safety plans
Proposals aim to curtail rise in violence in bar district
Orlando’s plans to rein in its nightlife amid a spike in violence call for security in private parking lots, new permits for businesses that stay open after midnight and the music to be turned up.
The plans have been in the works for about a year as city officials tried to get a grip on its downtown nightlife atmosphere, which includes more than 100 bars and nightclubs that draw more than 15,000 who flood bars and spill into city streets on weekend nights.
The package of proposals for changes to the city code was presented Tuesday morning to the Municipal Planning Board, which passed it unanimously. It is expected to head to the city council for a vote next month.
The attention to downtown comes amid reported violence over the past 13 months in and around the city’s bar district, which a staff analysis said falls in line with “national trends in violence in a postCOVID environment, where there is both greater public attendance at late-night uses and more firearms that have been acquired over recent years.”
“We’ve got more people in downtown now, and they’re coming in earlier at night than they did before COVID,” said Thomas Chatmon, the director of Orlando’s Downtown Development Board.
“With that behavior, there also has been an uptick in violent crime in downtown Orlando.”
The city became “laser-focused” on the issue of the environment after dark downtown last year following several shootings, including a murder of a 34-year-old, Chatmon said. A fifth shooting was investigated early Monday at Liberty Avenue and Church Street, police said.
The four proposals presented Tuesday were mostly supported by the Orlando Hospitality Alliance, a trade group that represents some of the bars, restaurants and other venues throughout the region, according to a letter submitted by Dominique Greco, the executive director of the group.
“Progress brings with it a great deal of excitement but also new responsibilities. Modernization and safety strategies are imperative in response to Orlando’s hyperbolic growth,” she wrote.
In an interview Greco said she was happy with the collaboration between the city and the industry and was hopeful the changes wouldn’t prove overly costly for business owners.
“This is a step in the right direction,” she said.
Also, after an outdoor-speaker moratorium and enforcement of the city’s noise ordinance had quieted sound along Orange
Avenue and other downtown streets making up the entertainment area, music will be allowed to crank up some.
The city is proposing turning the dial up to 85 decibels until midnight on weeknights and until 1:59 a.m. on weekends — taking noise from roughly that of a vacuum cleaner to that of a gas-powered leaf blower, and bringing Orlando in line with others like Nashville, Tennessee; Fort Lauderdale; Tampa; and Austin, Texas.
“Most of the complaints that we get are above the 95-decibel level,” said Jason Burton, Orlando’s assistant planning division manager.
“It sounds a little counterintuitive to increase the level, but in actuality it will bring everyone to an even playing field.”
But with higher volume comes more proposed rules, such as limiting the size of sidewalk cafè speakers to 4 inches and being turned off at midnight.
All speakers indoors within 20 feet of the opening must be pointed away from the door, and all new
and existing outdoor speakers will need a report from an acoustical consultant to guarantee compliance with the noise ordinance.
City officials also are proposing new regulations on private parking lots, popular places for pre-gaming, tailgating and after-parties following the closing of bars at 2 a.m.
The lots are technically illegal under the city code. The proposal will make the
businesses legal but also require lighting and gates or fencing to block off a lot when it isn’t open. The proposal also requires an attendant or security guard to be present if vehicles can park later than 10 p.m.
“If you engage with a police officer, you will find very, very quickly that they will tell you that many of the problems of violence in downtown either emanate from or result in an unsecured
parking lot,” Chatmon said. “There’s an inordinate amount of problems that OPD has in patrolling and policing these parking lots.”
The city council will likely vote on the changes June 20, with a second vote needed to adopt them. That vote is tentatively planned for July 18.