Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday showed a range of interest in creating a “common consumption area,” which would allow folks to drink alcoholic beverages as they move through downtown.
City staff members researched other communities in Kansas that have enacted CCA districts and shared their findings in a memo to the commission ahead of the meeting.
Staff members identified areas of downtown as possible boundaries for a common consumption area, centered on Massachusetts Street between Sixth Street and just south of 11th Street. Within the boundaries, people would be allowed to carry beverages they’ve purchased from participating businesses. (Read more about that at this link.)
Key concerns commissioners discussed during the presentation Tuesday were the costs of enforcement if additional downtown security would be needed and cleanup.
Porter Arneill, assistant director of arts and culture for Lawrence Parks and Recreation, told the commission that the concept and feedback thus far is “very nebulous right now.”
“Everything is a guessing game at this stage because there’s so many factors that are unknown,” Arneill said. “We don’t know what the behavior will be like. We don’t know how many businesses would actually join in on this.”
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The city already has a process to approve special permits to allow open consumption of alcohol during certain events, such as Lawrence Busker Festival. Commissioner Lisa Larsen said she wasn’t interested in a CCA, and wasn’t sure how advantageous it would be.
“It seems to me, with the struggles we’re having right now financially, to put more on us, on our police department, would be asking a bit much,” she said.
Some members of the public seemed to be shaken and stirred by the proposal.
Jim Bateman, an owner of Yarn Barn, said he was “remaining neutral for the moment” on the idea in general. He said he thought the city’s outreach to downtown businesses through Downtown Lawrence Inc. had been great, but that he’d heard from several concerned folks who hadn’t heard anything about this and were wondering what was going on.
Courtney Shipley, a former city commissioner, encouraged the commission to ask law enforcement for statistics on who’s serving underage people and who’s overserving customers.
“You should also talk to EMS and find out who’s getting calls for alcohol poisoning and other things before you move ahead with something like this,” Shipley said.
Andrew Holt, executive director of Downtown Lawrence Inc., said folks’ opinions have been across the board, but the people he’s spoken to wanted to ensure that there are the resources to have proper enforcement and ways to handle trash and sustainability concerns. But he said he thought some regular downtown events, such as Final Fridays, could be enhanced by a CCA.
Vice Mayor Mike Dever said he doesn’t think the city has studied the issue closely enough to make any decisions, but he could see both good points and negatives.
“I do have some questions about the open container issues and the trash and the wastes that can be generated by walking instead of using washable containers. That’s something we can overcome, I’m sure, with some creative partnerships,” Dever said.
Commissioner Amber Sellers said all she’s heard about this is how there will be “drunk derelicts” all over downtown, throwing cups all over the place. But she said she wanted to start a dialogue to imagine “what we can do downtown.”
“I’ve been to communities where they’ve used their common consumption districts to elevate programs that are done downtown,” she said. “… We literally do have people in our community don’t go downtown because they don’t see anything for themselves down there.”
Mayor Bart Littlejohn said he’d like more information about what costs the CCA would entail, and what kinds of success other communities have seen or if a CCA has exacerbated any problems.
Commission Brad Finkeldei also said he was curious how much CCAs in other locations are being used. He was also wondering what kind of buy-in the city might see.
“I mean, in theory, on paper, it sounds good — like, ‘Hey, I’m going to go to this restaurant, take a drink and go shop while I’m waiting for my spot,’” he said. “If I come to downtown with that expectation and like three restaurants are involved, then … it’s the opposite of that.”
Arneill said some communities have been reluctant to share data, and many of the CCAs are still fairly new. He said he’d look into it further and gather more feedback using the information he’d provided to the commission as a template.
It was not immediately clear Tuesday when the next step might come back before the commission.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
