Painesville City Council recently approved a proposal to increase the number of liquor permits in and near the city’s downtown.
Council approved an application to create a community entertainment district by a 6-0 vote at its Oct. 16 meeting, with Councilman Paul Hach excused on leave. The decision comes ahead of anticipated residential and retail development projects in the city.
“The purpose of doing this is to help facilitate development or revitalization of mixed-use areas,” said city Economic Development Director Sue Crotty.
She added that the approximately 231-acre district is set to include 15 new D-5J liquor permits, which will be subject to zoning regulations and state liquor requirements. They will provide the same restrictions and privileges as D-5 permits.
The Ohio Department of Commerce’s website states that a D-5 permit “allows for on/off sales of beer, wine, pre-packaged low-proof mixed beverages and on-premises-only consumption of high-proof spirits all until 2:30 a.m.”
“There has to be some element of food being served, although it doesn’t have to be extensive,” Crotty stated.
She previously said that D-5 permits “are the types of permits that a lot of establishments would want to have in this area.”
“If you’re trying to create a vibrant downtown with a nightlife, you would have establishments that want that D-5 type of permit,” Crotty added.
The Commerce Department’s permit quota list stated that Painesville City had three D-5 permits in use as of Oct. 20, with another eight still available.
Crotty said that the new permits will not change the status of existing D-5 permits in the area.
“We do have D-5 permits that are available, but we want to create this additional allotment of them,” she previously said. “We may not be able to do it in the future.”
A city of Painesville’s size needs “a minimum of $50 million in planned public and private development and project investment” to create a CED, Crotty said. Painesville currently has $78.9 million in planned development projects, including Grand River Walk and the Victoria Place rehabilitation.
The proposed district would be bounded by the Grand River to the east, East Washington Street to the south and Liberty and Richmond streets to the west, according to a map attached to the city’s application.
The northern boundary would run along the northern border of Kiwanis Recreation Park to East Erie Street, turn up Elm Street to the CSX railroad tracks north of Railroad Street, continue west along the tracks to North St. Clair Street and return to East Erie Street before continuing west to Richmond.
A number of properties between East Erie and East Jackson streets, near Richmond Street, would also be included.
A digital copy of Crotty’s presentation can be found by visiting painesville.com/council, selecting “2023 Meeting Documents” and selecting the presentation under the Oct. 16 meeting heading. The map was also presented at the city’s Sept. 18 council meeting.
The Commerce Department’s CED guide states that cities have the authority to expand, shrink or abolish CEDs. If a city shrinks or abolishes a district, all establishments outside of the new boundaries would have their D-5J licenses revoked.
At the time of a May 15 presentation, Crotty said that Ohio had 141 CEDs.
The Commerce Department lists Mentor’s Great Lakes Mall as the only CED currently in Lake County. There are none in Geauga County, while the 11 in Cuyahoga County include areas such as Legacy Village, the Flats, Playhouse Square, Ohio City and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
Painesville was set to file the application with state officials following the council vote, Crotty said.