Carmel May Soon Approve “DORA” Along Monon Greenway

Source: WISH-TV / other

CARMEL, Ind. — It’s called a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area or “DORA” and once could soon be coming to a specific area in Carmel.

The point of a DORA is to allow people who order drinks at any bars or restaurants within the area to walk around outside the establishment with their drink in hand. These DORAs have already been experimented with in places like Fort Wayne, Batesville, Jeffersonville, and Shelbyville in Indiana to name a few.

Many local leaders in support of implementing a DORA in Carmel say it will help businesses and people there in a lot of ways.

“Well, it brings in more tax revenue. That’s one thing,” Carmel City Councilor Matthew Snyder said to WISH-TV. “I think about many of the people that own condos on the Monon (Greenway) that spend many evenings at Savor, or the GOAT, it would be nice if instead of having to chug their beer before they leave, just be able to walk home with it.”

The way it works is not simply having a beer poured into a regular glass or the same thing for a cocktail. Under the rules of the DORA, you would have to have the beverage in a specifically marked cup at participating establishments. Once you have that cup you would then be free to walk around outside in public with the beverage as long as you stay within the limit of the designated area.

In this case, it would include a fair amount of downtown Carmel and the Arts District along the Monon Greenway from as far north as 1st Street and as far south as Carmel Drive in between 3rd Avenue and Rangeline Road, 1st Avenue SE, and 4th Avenue SE.

Carmel City Councilors voted to send the proposed DORA to a committee to be discussed further on Monday. Before the vote, some Carmel residents got to weigh in on the idea. Two residents spoke up against it saying that they failed to see how it would directly benefit people who live there.

Bruce Calabrese (pictured above), the owner of Old Town Tavern in Carmel, said a DORA could be a positive for his business on West Main Street. Calabrese said he supports it “as long as it’s enforced correctly and it’s patrolled correctly by the city.”

Noblesville approved a DORA of its own in April and Westfield voted in the last couple weeks to do the same.

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