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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowBusiness owners in the Mass Ave Cultural District are considering a push to adopt a designation that would allow people to purchase alcoholic beverages from approved vendors and carry them outside to be consumed within the downtown neighborhood.
The Mass Ave Merchants Association is expected to discuss the creation of a designated outdoor refreshment area, or DORA, this week—the first step of several needed to establish what would be the first such district in Indianapolis and the second in Marion County.
The DORA would consist of a mile-long stretch of Massachusetts Avenue from New York Street to Interstate 65/70, with a boundary extending 100 feet on either side of the street, wide enough to reach the main entrances of businesses fronting the roadway. It would also have an extension to incorporate the Davlan Park green space into the district.
The designation would allow people 21 and older to purchase alcoholic beverages from designated bars, restaurants and vendors and carry them outside or into certain participating businesses within the district. Businesses would display official signage to indicate their participation.
The opt-in program, which would also require approval of City-County Council and the state’s Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, would be in effect from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Patrons would pay a a $1 fee per drink for a marked one-time-use cup they could carry in public.
The DORA would not permit alcohol to be carried into a restaurant or bar other than the one from which it was purchased, but it would allow drinks to be taken out on sidewalks and into other participating shops and spaces. The $1 fee would go toward management of the program by the cultural district and merchants association.
Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Bill 20 last year, making Indiana the fifth state to allow DORAs—following North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission has approved DORA districts for 20 Indiana communities—Bargersville, Batesville, Fort Wayne, Greensburg, Griffith, Huntingburg, Jasper, Jeffersonville, Kirklin, Lafayette, Lawrenceburg, Logansport, New Albany, Noblesville, Roanoke, Shelbyville, Speedway, Warsaw, Winona Lake and Yorktown.
Members of the Carmel City Council, Noblesville City Council and the Westfield City Council have approved DORA districts for their cities in Hamilton County. Carmel and Westfield are awaiting approval from the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, while Noblesville received the OK in July from the state agency.
There are no state laws that prohibit adults 21 and over from carrying and consuming alcohol in public places, but there are laws that prohibit restaurant and bars from allowing patrons to carry open drinks from their premises. A new state law that took effect July 1 does allow patrons to carry out drinks in sealed qualified containers.
Meg Storrow, president of the board for the Mass Ave Cultural District and Mass Ave Merchants Association, said ambiguity in statutes has led several businesses in the corridor to have brushes with state excise police in recent years.
“A lot of our members have been fined for allowing [open containers], and ATC has been telling them that all they can do is sell closed containers or pre-packaged containers of alcohol,” Storrow said, adding that the DORA would solve that issue, because of the enabling legislation for the areas signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb in 2023.
The Mass Ave Merchants Association is expected to discuss the proposal this week, including consideration of the preliminary boundary, hours of operation, and administration of the program. Leadership is also seeking feedback on possible security increases and clean-up efforts, methods for disposal—or recycling—of the DORA cups, illegal reuse of the cups and design of the district’s signage.
Storrow said a timeline has not been finalized for if or when the merchants association would ask the City-County Council to consider an ordinance approving the designation.
“We have this upcoming Merchants Association meeting … where we hope to get final feedback, and then we’ll make some decisions based on what we hear,” she said.
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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The whole concept of these DORAs is ridiculous. Just let people carry their drinks around without a special tax stamp.
Agree. In fact, bars can sell people a drink in a plastic cup and they can legally walk out on Mass Ave right now. Someone needs to explain what differential impact a DORA makes other than a bunch of overhead.
It’s a whole cash grab is what is, does nothing for patrons.
Maybe the worst part about it will be the trash. Used cups will be everywhere the morning after. Let’s be sure to plan for this.
I feel like that’s just any nightlife district. That’s why they should have people, either through the city or business/neighborhood association, emptying trash and otherwise cleaning up after weekend evenings.
Great. With this plan people would legally be able to pair their guns with their alcohol. What could possibly go wrong?
As a resident of Carmel’s downtown, I’ve soured on DORAs as it really restricts and punishes local residents who choose to live in the area and may want to enjoy a public area with some BYOB from home.
Marion County IS Indianapolis, so this Dora would be the second in the city and the county.
Speedway is an excluded town under Unigov, along with Southport, Lawrence, & Beech Grove. The article is correct since Speedway’s DORA is not within City of Indianapolis.
Touché Dave!
The Chatham Arch Neighborhood Association had a presentation a few weeks ago about the DORA. There doesn’t seem to be many downsides, and it has a lot of upsides, like the car load of people that park with the BYOB can now be controlled, whereas without the DORA, police can do noting until somebody is visibly intoxicated or tries to drive.