Committee recommends designated outdoor refreshment-area (DORA) ordinance to council after operational questions

The Waukesha City Ordinance and Licensing Committee recommended revisions to municipal code 11.27 on June 9 to create designated outdoor refreshment area (DORA) districts downtown, with the proposal sent to the Common Council for further consideration.

Under the draft ordinance, the city would establish two defined DORA districts: a larger area encompassing a substantial portion of the downtown footprint (including the riverfront street up to Wisconsin Avenue) and a separate district for William Street. The DORA would operate only in the footprint of a permitted special event, meaning an event’s specific street-closure boundaries – not the entire mapped district – would determine where open containers are allowed, according to city staff. “This is really tailored towards the street closures where there's a very defined designated area, traffic is excluded,” a staff member said during the discussion.

City staff and committee members discussed operational details repeatedly. Officials said the ordinance requires clear temporary signage to mark DORA boundaries during each event and places responsibility for enforcement and cleanup on the permit holder. The city attorney’s office and event organizers told the committee that state law continues to prohibit entering or leaving licensed premises with an open container, so participating establishments and organizers must use measures such as tamper-evident seals or wristbands to manage transfers and identify patrons during events. The Waukesha Downtown Business Association (WDBA) indicated it could provide additional trash cans and staff cleanup for events and would remove noncompliant participants if necessary.

Committee members asked whether DORA rules would apply to events that do not close streets (for example, art crawls). Staff said the draft ties operation of a DORA to special-event permits that include street closures, so the current draft would not authorize open containers in an event that does not close the public right-of-way. The committee discussed enforcement challenges for sidewalk cafes and the potential for patrons to walk beyond DORA boundaries with drinks; staff and event organizers said enforcement would rely on participating establishments, event organizers and police presence.

Alderperson Helvins Laban moved to recommend the DORA revisions to the Common Council so all council members could review the ordinance and the map of proposed boundaries; Alderperson Manion seconded. The committee voted to forward the ordinance to the council for its three readings and further consideration.