Businesses and festivals on the downtown square will now need to apply for a permit to allow for the consumption of alcoholic beverages outside.
“The only impact to businesses on the square would be a licensed establishment that their permit allows patrons to walk outside their building with alcohol,” Kerry Crews, Commerce Police Chief, said. “It would not be a violation for the business to allow that to happen, the violation would be on the person who actually takes it outside.”
The ordinance was proposed during a September meeting of the Commerce City Council, and passed before the Oct. 7 meeting, according to Crews.
The ordinance was created to allow for permitted alcohol consumption in the downtown Corridor District.
According to Crews, an ordinance that was passed in 1983 which banned outdoor drinking inside the downtown square, was thought to have been repealed three years ago with the passage of the Corridor Ordinance.
“The City Manager at that time was under the impression that the Corridor Ordinance repealed the 1983 ordinance, but in fact it didn’t,” Crews said. “We’ve recently discovered that.”
In order for festivals such as the Bois D’arc Bash and the Chili Fest to allow patrons to drink alcohol at the event, they will need to apply for a permit from the City Manager’s office for permission.
“A person or organization wishing to consume alcohol on the square must apply to the city,” Crews said.
Lt. Jason Bone, University Police Crime Information Officer, said, “This ordinance will not affect the (Texas A&M University-Commerce) campus in any way. It ONLY allows for permitted alcohol consumption downtown.”
Violating the city ordinance by drinking alcoholic beverages when and where it is not permitted is a Class C Misdemenor, which is punishable by a fine.
‘It’s similar to a traffic citation,” Crews said. “A citation could be issued to the violator, or they can be arrested. The City of Commerce Municipal Court is responsible for assessing the punishment in these cases.”
State drinking laws still apply to the A&M-Commerce campus and city, Crews said.
“In a nutshell, for the businesses downtown this is not a bad ordinance overall,” Crews said. “It allows for a permitting process for consumption of alcohol in the downtown area, whereas before, alcohol was not allowed at all.”
Although the ordinance does not primarily affect A&M-Commerce, some students are still not happy about the implementation of a new drinking ordinance.
“I don’t see how the public consumption of alcohol should concern anyone besides the person doing the consuming, so long as their actions do not endanger the lives of others,” Wade Gurley, graduate student, said. “I think it is somewhat of an example of government over-reach.”