Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Alcohol Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Thomasville updates downtown social-district ordinance, adopts management plan to take effect Jan. 2, 2025
Summary
The council amended the city code to update the downtown social-district boundaries and clarified rules for carrying marked alcohol cups; council also adopted the required management and maintenance plan, effective Jan. 2, 2025, and emphasized police education and boundary enforcement.
The Thomasville City Council approved amendments to the city’s social-district ordinance and adopted a revised management and maintenance plan that will govern the downtown social-district program when it goes into effect on Jan. 2, 2025.
City Manager Michael Grama explained the changes as an update to an ordinance created during the COVID period. The revision clarifies the downtown social-district boundaries — generally bounded by East Guilford, Memorial Park Drive, Main Street (east and west) to Trade Street in West Guilford, with a sliver crossing to the south side of the railroad tracks to reach restaurants on East Main Street — and aligns the ordinance text with the map included in the management plan. The ordinance clarifies that alcoholic drinks sold by an ABC-permitted business can be carried on specified sidewalks in the social district in marked cups, that a patron may return to the permitting business but may not carry an ABC drink into another ABC facility, and that businesses that do not sell alcohol may choose whether to admit patrons carrying marked cups.
Council members discussed enforcement. One councilmember noted the program is new for Thomasville and urged the city to "get started on the right foot," saying police would be present at times to educate the public and enforce boundaries to avoid ticketing or arrests if possible. The revised management and maintenance plan included one edit to correct the effective date; council voted to adopt the plan and the ordinance by electronic vote (the transcript records the motions and a 7–0 tally).
The city said cups will be required to be marked and that the plan contains an implementation checklist that city staff will present for final operational approval. During the holiday season preceding Jan. 2, the current rules remain in effect.
What happens next: city staff will finalize operational details in the implementation plan, coordinate with ABC-permitted businesses and the police department for education and enforcement, and begin the program on Jan. 2, 2025 under the adopted plan and ordinance.
