DAGSBORO – In response to Dagsboro police concerns, the town council is considering an ordinance that would reduce the hours permitted for restaurants in the Highway Commercial zoning district to serve alcohol.
“We have been having issues with one specific place in town. I don’t know what the right answer to this is,” Dagsboro Police Lt. Nick Disciullo said at the council’s June meeting.
Lt. Disciullo, who will officially become the new chief Aug. 10, said police response has encountered fights, disorderly conduct, and DUIs in the parking lot.
“We’d like to nip it in the bud before it gets too bad,” Lt. Disciullo said.
The draft ordinance prepared by Town Solicitor Greg Morris at the July 15 council session would allow a restaurant in the Highway Commercial district to serve alcoholic beverages from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Current Delaware law allows a business holding a license for the sale of alcohol for on-premises consumption from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. House Bill 235, which passed unanimously by the General Assembly and was signed by Gov. John Carney in January 2024, changed the initial serving time from 9 a.m. to 8 a.m.
Representatives LaDama Mexican Restaurant and Bar, located in Savannah Square Shopping Center, and Delmarva Billiards on Royal Boulevard spoke at Monday’s council meeting.
“We are learning,” said LaDama owner Bianey Cordoba. “We do pay for private security, inside and outside. We are trying to make it safer. Sometimes it gets out of our hands.”
Ms. Cordoba said the intent is “to give the town something different, and to bring in new customers and new people. I grew up in this town. My kids are growing up. I chose Dagsboro.”
To help pay for the rent, special events are held at LaDama, and artists are brought in from Mexico and Philadelphia, and local bands to help build business, Ms. Cordoba said.
“We are trying to build LaDama so it’s not only for one certain ethnicity,” she said.
But an 11 p.m. shutoff for serving alcohol would have a severe financial impact and might result in the restaurant closure.
“Here in this town nobody comes like between 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It’s more like dinner time,” said Ricardo Jimenez, LaDama manager.
“If they cut off time for me at 11 p.m., we would probably have to be closing the restaurant,” Ms. Cordoba said.
The draft proposal includes financial penalties for violations pertaining to the time serving alcohol.
The first offense is $250, a second offense is $500, and a third offense would result in a $1,000 fine. A fourth violation could be a $1,000 fine, and potential suspension of the establishment’s business license.
“We didn’t pick those out of thin air,” Mayor Chandler said. “We kind of looked at what other towns do in terms of penalties, trying to have sort of a scaled effort so that you were sending a message gradually with increasing fines.”
Mr. Morris said the key thing is providing “some teeth” in the ordinance.
“Certain establishments may not care to get hit with a $25 penalty,” Mr. Morris said. “I did it on an escalated basis. I didn’t just recreate this on my own. I looked at other towns and how they addressed it.”
Mr. Morris made note that an establishment violating alcohol laws not only will have to deal with the Town of Dagsboro, but the “bigger issue” would be dealing with the state Alcohol Beverage Control Commission.
Dave Elliott of Delmarva Billiards asked if the ordinance proposal for restaurants would impact his business.
“With an establishment like myself, I am not a restaurant. I own a bar and have a tavern license. We are not truly a restaurant,” said Mr. Elliott.
“I’ll give you my-off-the cuff answer. If you aren’t a restaurant and you are truly a bar or taproom, then you may not fall within the strict definitions of this ordinance because it applies to restaurants,” said Dagsboro Mayor William Chandler III. “The timing might not apply to you. The forfeiture and the fines would apply to you.”
It was stated by Delmarva Billiards that they hold huge pool tournaments that sometimes begin as early as 9 a.m., and over the last year and half the establishment has never had to call town police.
Mayor Chandler said the council will consider the comments made. He added that this is only a draft which can be modified.
The next step would be an advertised public hearing, which is required because this involves a change in a zoning district. As the council is not scheduled to meet in August it probably will be on the September meeting agenda.
Staff writer Glenn Rolfe can be reached at grolfe@iniusa.org. Follow @glennrolfeBTBN on X.
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