Ross Gallabrese QUESTIONS — The Rev. Clint Quillen, pastor of Wintersville Methodist Church, speaks during a public hearing held before Wednesday's special meeting of Wintersville Village Council.

WINTERSVILLE — Village Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to create a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area, a move Mayor Mike Petrella said could help drive economic development in the community.

The area will stretch along both sides of Main Street, from Clear Creek Coffee to Valley Wine Cellar on the north side and from Wintersville Methodist Church to Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church on the south side. It would be in effect from 11 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. seven days a week. The area includes the Village Building and the property surrounding it, as well as the dog park.

“There is major economic development behind having D.O.R.A.s,” Petrella said after the meeting. “There is still private property along Main Street where if someone would want to open another liquor establishment, the village would be welcoming.”

D.O.R.A.s allow customers of participating businesses to carry specifically designated cups of alcohol purchased at participating establishments through the area. Currently, Pastaio Cucina Rustica Italiana and Valley Wine Cellar are the two locations within the area that serve alcohol.

“It gives everyone the option of drinking alcohol outside legally,” Petrella explained during a public hearing that was held prior to Wednesday’s special council meeting.

Petrella said property owners inside the area can ask people not to drink on their property and added a person cannot take a D.O.R.A. cup into another permit holder’s business or inside any other business.

“You can’t bring it inside other properties,” Village Solicitor Jake Linn explained. “If someone on your property is causing a problem, you can still call the police on them for trespassing. All this will do is make it so the police department will not have the option to arrest for open container within those hours within the area.”

Objections to the establishment of the D.O.R.A. were raised by several members of the Wintersville Methodist Church during a public hearing held before the special council meeting. Those members objected to their property being included in the area.

The Rev. Clint Quillen, pastor of the church; Robert Gribben, the vice president of the church council; Ron Price, a member of church council; and Tiffany Manley, youth pastor at the church, all spoke against seeing council move forward with the D.O.R.A.

“We sent a letter of concern to council,” Quillen explained. “Part of the concern was that our church, by our bylaws, does not allow alcohol on our property.”

Gribben and Price said that neither of them saw where the benefit was in establishing the area.

“We have a church here that has been the moral center of the community for more than 100 years,” Price said.

Among the issues raised by the church members was that those who participate in Wednesdays in Wintersville could carry alcohol onto the church property during the monthly outdoor street festival.

“Part of the concern is that we are really welcoming and have been a part of Wednesdays in Wintersville since the beginning,” Quillen said. “Our rules in our church are that there is no alcohol. So, if we have a bounce house there and mom or dad is watching their kid in the bounce house and they are drinking on our property, who’s going to address that?

“We don’t want to look like we aren’t welcoming. We don’t want to be in a bad spot where it goes against our bylaws,” he added.

Petrella said that he hoped that everyone would respect the wishes of the property owners.

Joel John, owner of Exquisite Creations by Joel, which sits at 735 Main St., said he was in favor of the D.O.R.A. because if he was having an outdoor event, people who purchased D.O.R.A. cups would be able to have a drink while participating.

Currently, there are about 170 such areas around Ohio — including one in Toronto that was approved by City Council there in August — village officials said, and after contacting several other communities, they learned that those towns where D.O.R.A.s exist have seen little or no issues.

Village officials said they had no idea how soon the designated area will go into effect, saying that final approval is still needed from the state, cups need to be ordered, and signs designating the boundaries of the area need to be installed. The color of and the designs on the D.O.R.A. cups would be rotated to make it easy to identify if a cup had been purchased that day.

Liquor license holders, Linn said, would still be held to the standards they are now and would not be able to overserve patrons.

Village officials pointed out that businesses were not obligated to offer D.O.R.A. cups every day.

While the vote in favor of establishing the D.O.R.A. was unanimous, Councilman Jason Mattern said after the meeting he had some reservations.

“My main concern is that we are truly expecting adults, young and old, to act like adults in a public forum, and in many cases, a forum that is populated with young, innocent children,” Mattern explained in an email. “Sometimes, asking adults to act like adults, well, sometimes that falls on deaf ears and just does not happen.”

Mattern added he expects concerns about the D.O.R.A. to be discussed in a transparent manner.

“Genuine community feedback will be very important and must be considered,” he explained. “I really want to help provide and promote an atmosphere where all people, young and old, can interact and enjoy themselves and promote Wintersville in a positive light. D.O.R.A. could be one of those opportunities.”

Petrella said after the special meeting that he hopes all parties will view the D.O.R.A. with an open mind.

“All I am asking is to just give it a chance,” he said. “It’s going to be a learning experience for everyone. If it doesn’t work, we can remove it.”