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The GOAT in Carmel can operate without restrictions about three months after the bar reopened following a three-year hiatus.
The Carmel City Council on Monday night voted 8-0 to remove rules instituted in 2022 as part of a rezoning move that required The GOAT to have earlier closing times, no outdoor speakers and a neighborhood hotline.
In a separate move, the council also voted to create a designated outdoor refreshment area, or DORA, in the city’s central core.
City Council member Matthew Snyder, who co-sponsored the GOAT ordinance, said at Monday’s meeting that he thought the restrictions were “extremely discriminatory against a single business that can no longer compete in step with its neighbors,” such as Social Cantina and Sun King Carmel.
“It’s important to me that our small businesses are on an even playing field, and I think this is just a step further,” Snyder said.
The GOAT, or Greatest of All Taverns, opened in August 2020 at the former site of Bub’s Cafe, which had long catered to breakfast and lunch crowds. Within months, the city began receiving complaints about late-night noise, public urination and intoxication, littering, vomiting, trespassing and other nuisance activities outside the bar.
The GOAT, owned by Kevin and Megan Paul at 220 2nd St. SW, reopened this spring with a 2,940-square-foot addition to the existing 2,300-square-foot building, which allows events previously held outdoors to take place indoors.
The additions include a new restaurant area with 87 seats—reduced from an original plan for 124 additional seats—and six more restroom stalls. The expansion did not include an outdoor seating area. The building previously had 70 seats combined between the interior and patio areas.
New entrances and exits are situated away from the nearby residential area.
Former Mayor Jim Brainard said at a December 2020 City Council meeting that Bub’s Cafe was granted a variance in March 2007 to operate in an area adjacent to neighborhoods. When The GOAT moved in, the variance assigned to that property was transferred to the new business.
Brainard told the council the city’s staff failed to notice that the variance only granted restaurant operations until 2 p.m. The GOAT’s official hours were 3 p.m. to 1 a.m., but it sometimes stayed open until as late as 3 a.m.
The city instituted a set of temporary restrictions meant to address the issues, physical improvements to the building and plans for additional restrooms to be built.
However, the Carmel Board of Zoning Appeals effectively forced The GOAT to close in April 2021 when it denied Kevin Paul an updated-use ordinance that would have allowed for the continued operation of the bar.
The Carmel City Council in March 2022 approved a request to rezone the property from residential to business to allow The GOAT to reopen.
The bar’s owners were required to end outdoor service by 7 p.m. and move all patrons indoors by 7:45 p.m. Alcohol service ended at 11:45 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and by 12:45 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The GOAT was also prohibited from having outdoor speakers and was required to establish and maintain a neighborhood hotline.
The GOAT now plans to close at midnight Sunday through Thursday and at 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, according to the Dave Coots, attorney for the owners.
The Pauls also own Brockway Pub and Danny Boy Beer Works in Carmel.
Carmel’s DORA approved
The move to release The GOAT from its restrictions coincided Monday night with Carmel City Council members voting 7-1 to create a designated outdoor refreshment area, or DORA, in the city’s central core. The Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission will review Carmel’s plan.
Carmel’s DORA would let people ages 21 and older purchase alcoholic beverages from participating bars, restaurants and vendors, and carry them outside and into other shops in the district that allow drinks.
Open container laws do not prohibit people from carrying alcoholic beverages outside in Carmel, but the proposed measure would limit open consumption of alcoholic drinks in the district to those purchased at participating businesses.
Carmel’s DORA district would be bounded by First Street NW to the north, Third Avenue SW and Fourth Avenue SW to the west, West Carmel Drive to the south and First Avenue SE to the east with some variations along the eastern border. The district would include the Arts & Design District and Midtown.
According to the ordinance, 12 businesses have applied to be designated permittees in Carmel’s DORA: 101 Beer Kitchen, Anthony’s Chophouse and 3UP Rooftop Lounge, Bazbeaux, Fork + Ale House, Hanami Sushi and Sake Bar, Hotel Carmichael, Monterey Coastal Cuisine, Muldoon’s, Penn & Beech Candle Co., Savor Restaurant, and Wine and Rind.
People would be required to carry plastic cups with the DORA logo throughout the district. Businesses and restaurants would have signs saying DORA beverages are welcome, sold or not permitted inside.
According to state law, once a DORA is established, people are required to carry plastic cups with the DORA logo throughout the district. People would no longer be allowed to bring alcohol from home to outdoor events in Carmel.
While some council members noted that Carmel police would be unlikely to search people who are not creating a disturbance, Councilor Anita Joshi said she thought the district “might lead to enforcement in an unclear way” and that the city not choosing to enforce part of the ordinance could lead to unintended consequences.
“I think you open the door to that conversation when you say we are going to pass an ordinance that restricts people’s freedom to bring their wine to city events, as they have done for the last 10 years, and then you are relying on the fact that we’re not going to enforce that,” Joshi said. “I have a hard time with that fundamentally.”
Members of the Noblesville City Council and the Westfield City Council have approved DORA districts for their cities in Hamilton County. Noblesville’s DORA recently received approval from the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, while Westfield is awaiting approval.
Noblesville lobbied for a bill to allow DORA districts beginning in 2021. Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Bill 20 last year, making Indiana the fifth state to allow DORAs—following North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Communities are allowed to have up to seven DORA districts.
The ATC has approved DORA districts for 16 Indiana communities—Batesville, Fort Wayne, Greensburg, Huntingburg, Jasper, Jeffersonville, Kirklin, Lawrenceburg, Logansport, New Albany, Noblesville, Shelbyville, Speedway, Warsaw, Winona Lake and Yorktown.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to state that Senate Bill 20 authorized the creation of designated outdoor refreshment areas.
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Downtown Carmel consist of bunch of bars and burger joints. Why are people paying $800k and above to live down there? Now people can walk the streets drinking. alcohol. It is definitely not family oriented there. This environment also doesn’t support moral behavior.
As a resident of downtown Carmel, I feel like this DORA unnecessarily restricts my freedom in bringing some wine (in plastic, reusable cups) to the plaza or during the various festivals. I intentionally chose to make downtown Carmel my home and I feel like this unnecessarily restricts our freedom to do as we please. Most of us don’t have backyards. Instead, the Monon and the district is our yard and this is where we socialize and gather.
I don’t have any ill will toward our businesses who see this as a chance to boost business, but I wish it didn’t have to come at the cost of residents who chose to make downtown Carmel their home.