The city of Vacaville’s newly merged Department of Community and Economic Development hosted a community feedback discussion regarding the possibility of Entertainment Zones and a parklet program in downtown Vacaville at the McBride Center on Thursday evening.
Entertainment zones would allow downtown bars and restaurants to serve alcohol in open containers within set outdoor areas contingent upon a variety of regulations. The parklet program would extend a COVID-19 era social distancing policy that allowed restaurants to build more outdoor seating on sidewalks and in parking spaces.
The city is considering three entertainment zone boundary options, Associate Planner Damiere Powell said. one along Main Street, one in the town square, and one at Andrew’s Park. The city conducted a survey on the issue and received 19 responses in favor of parklets and 15 responses in favor of entertainment zones out of 21 total responses. Concerns raised by respondents included security, parking and the potential for public intoxication.
City staff said they will have full drafts of possible ordinances ready for discussion at a second community feedback meeting scheduled for the McBride Center from 2-3:30 p.m. on Feb. 23. Currently, Powell said the city is only considering privately owned parklets, but may consider city-owned parklet spaces in the future.
Residents at the meeting expressed concerns about losing parking downtown and worried about increased violence if public drinking is allowed.
“Up until recently, we had a lot of violence downtown,” one attendee said.
“The last thing you want is more alcohol on the street,” another attendee said.
Powell said jurisdictions typically only allow beer and wine sales in entertainment zones, but the city could, in theory, allow hard liquor sales as well.
Vacaville Police Department Captain Katie Cardona said the department will prepare to enforce any ordinance passed by the city.
“The police department supports downtown businesses however we can,” she said.
Director of Community and Economic Development Erin Morris said the soonest the ordinance could be completed and passed is June of this year, and that the city will continue to collect feedback from downtown stakeholders.
“One thing about downtown Vacaville is you always give us feedback,” Morris said.
Morris said she would like to see local businesses benefit from alcohol sales this summer for the Creekwalk Concert Series.
“Yes, the beer tent at Andrew’s park is very popula,r but that does not put any money at all into the pockets of brick and mortar businesses downtown,” she said.
Morris said the parklet program has not yet seen significant demand from downtown businesses, and that the department will carefully consider the safety implications of any ordinance.
“We want to be pretty cautious about what the parameters are, where they can be, how they are managed,” she said.
Powell noted that the city recently collected a parking study and a lighting study to provide data for these projects. Morris said many of the city’s current parking lots are underutilized because they are underlit.
Asked about entertainment zones by Councilmember Ted Fremouw at a January city council meeting, Police Chief Chris Polen said he has worked with other departments on the possibility but has concerns moving forward about the program.
“I am also very supportive of downtown maybe changing the dynamics of what it looks like from where its current version is. It’s no secret that the police department has been struggling for many years, dealing with some of the bars downtown, some of the fights that occur, some of the clientele that comes into the City of Vacaville… It’s a big nuisance for the police department at times, and I think most of you, if not all of you, have seen that and have expressed concerns to me.”
Polen said he is supportive of the process for a variety of reasons, but said he would like to see clear parameters for businesses to adhere to.
“In my opinion, it’s a humble opinion of course, but nothing good happens after midnight,” he said. “We are getting to the point of ‘nothing good starts happening after ten’, because I am probably getting older, but there are a lot of regulations that are going to follow this.”
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