Restaurant Ordinance Gets New Name, More Changes

By Alyssa Schnugg
Staff writer
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

The proposed ordinance that would require businesses that serve alcohol in Oxford has a new name and has undergone several revisions since first proposed officially last month.

Mayor Robyn Tannehill said while the recent public meetings have been long, having open discussions with restaurant owners and community members have made the ordinance “better.”
“I hope we have found a middle ground, and I think we have,” she said Tuesday at the Oxford Board of Aldermen meeting. “The mission and goal of this ordinance is safety.”
The Regulation and Safety of Patron and Employees of Restaurants, Bars and Similar Businesses, Including Event Venues ordinance amendment, formally known as the Downtown District ordinance, could be voted on in two weeks after another public hearing at the July 17 Board of Aldermen meeting.
“After the public hearing, this board could choose to vote,” Tannehill said. “If it passes, it would into effect in 30 days.”
In previous public hearings concerning the requirements for bars and restaurants serving alcohol, public comment lasted three or more hours. On Tuesday, few comments were made by the public and City Hall had plenty of open seats, unlike the meeting two weeks ago where people were standing in the hallways.
The ordinance, while smaller in wording, now applies to all businesses in the city that are required by local or state law to obtain a permit for the sale, distribution or consumption of alcoholic beverages on site. Originally, it was proposed for a small area on the west side of the Square, where police officials say most of the issues with underage drinking and large crowds occur.
However, through the public meeting process, many of those restaurant owners in the originally proposed district said the would be at a competitive disadvantage and that whatever problems the ordinance hopes to improve, would only be pushed to other places in the city.
The ordinance requires bars to provide adequate supervision at their establishments. In previous versions, that requirement has specific numbers of security guards required, for example, if a business had 50 people in it at one time, one security guard was required. That has since been removed from the ordinance.
The ordinance also requires businesses to maintain the waiting lines in front of their building by using a rope or other crowd device, but owners or employees are not required to physically confront of restraining patrons but are rather required to contact the Oxford Police Department.
Cameras would be required at all entry and exit doors, open common areas, in front of bathrooms (but not inside the bathroom) and any other public area.
Surviving the many cuts made to the original ordinance is the much-discussed requirement for bars where age restriction entry is applied, to use age verification devices, whether they are scanners or cell phones using an age verification app, to verify someone is of the legal drinking age. However, if a person is known to an establishment to be over 21, they are not required to be scanned.
Data collected from the age verification device must not be retained, used, sold or disseminated by the business for any other purpose.
A major portion of the ordinance involves bars and restaurants forming a safety plan, with the help of OPD that will address evacuation plans, training of staff members and to handle emergency situations.
Event venues will be required to submit a notice of events and pay a $75 processing fee per events; however, the ordinance was changed to add the verbiage “but may be adjusted downward for repeat events.” The only official event venue in Oxford at the moment is The Lyric Oxford on the Square.
The owners of The Lyric and others have protested this part of the ordinance saying it singles out one business.
Tannehill said she’s received criticism from some community members who think the ordinance is a knee-jerk reaction to a shooting that happened at The Lyric on April 30, where a man shot a gun up into the air during a fight.
“This has been something we’ve been discussing for 15 years,” she said. “I would not be doing my job if I didn’t try to do everything I could to make Oxford a safe place for our residents and visitors.”
Read the entire ordinance amendment here.