Glenwood Officials Consider Designating Town Square As 'Social District'

The Glenwood City Council is giving consideration to formally designating Town Square as a “social district.”

The issue was discussed prior to last Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Glenwood City Council.

A new Iowa law that went into effect July 1 allows cities to establish “social districts,” which are defined public areas where people can possess and consume alcoholic beverages, including liquor, wine, and beer, on public streets, sidewalks, and other public spaces within a designated space.

To create a social district, a city must pass an ordinance that specifies the district’s boundaries, the days and hours alcohol consumption is allowed, rules for special containers that identify the source of the alcohol and requirements for participating businesses that hold alcohol licenses. 

Businesses within the social district are not required to participate as a vendor. The businesses that do participate must be licensed to sell alcohol and be named in the city council’s resolution as a participating vendor for the designated dates and times that the social district is activated. Alcohol must be consumed from an approved, non-glass container that identifies the business where it was purchased.

Cities have the option of having the social district activated on regular basis, such as designated hours on Friday and Saturday nights, or for special community events.

The law does not permit drinking in vehicles, during times when the social district ordinance is not in effect, or in a way that violates general alcohol control laws, nor does it prevent businesses within the district from refusing entry to individuals carrying alcohol onto their property from another establishment.

Algona is one of the first cities in Iowa to establish a social district and its ordinance is being used as a blueprint by other communities around the state.

Glenwood City Administrator Courtney Harter said if Glenwood were to establish a social district, it would not be in place in time for next month’s Homecoming celebration.

“We would not have it this year,” she said. ‘It would be nice but we’re going to make sure we can go through the process.”

That process includes posting signage and educating the public and business owners about the ordinance.

“We would have to post signage for if we did it year-round – it would have to be permanent signage, showing what the rules are, “ she said. “Or we can have it special event specific. We can have signage that gets taken out about the rules you have to have when it closes down, you can’t be drunk, you have to the proper cups and making sure that all of our rules are outlined for the public so that they know what they’re signing up for when they walk into that social district.”

Harter noted businesses participating as social district vendors will likely be required to take a class offered by the Glenwood Police Department before becoming eligible and the city council will have the option of reviewing individual business permits on an annual basis.

“If somebody is a problem -  they’re not following the rules, they’re not getting their cups – we can come back and say, ‘We don’t think this is appropriate for this business. Here’s the reasons why and they could be denied for a period of time or at council’s discretion.”

Harter said she envisions participating businesses being charged an annual contract fee to offset the cost of additional police patrol in the social district area or charging a fee for activating the social district for a special event.