City of Orlando passes new ordinance restricting nightlife downtown

Orlando City Council on Monday passed two controversial new measures restricting nightlife in downtown Orlando.

Despite a putative cooling-off period for further discussions between council members and stakeholders after a contentious January meeting when the measures were first brought up (and unanimously passed as a first read), City Council approved both proposal rules. The first imposes a six-month moratorium on new downtown nightclubs, and the second places multiple new restrictions on after-midnight alcohol sales.

The moratorium passed unanimously, and a slightly amended "After Midnight" (Gremlins!) rule passed 5-2. Some of the changes to the latter include reduced requirements for extra-duty officers and reduced requirements for weapons detection (metal detectors in doorways scaled back to wanding).

But, as it currently stands, any bar downtown with a capacity of over 125 people wishing to sell alcohol after midnight will have to purchase a $250 permit. They'll also need to pay for police to act as venue security on the weekends and perform weapons checks on those seeking to enter.

The six-month moratorium went into effect immediately, while the After Midnight restrictions start in May. The latter is, in theory, a pilot program and will be up for review after 12 months. Penalties for noncompliant businesses will operate on a sort of "three strikes and you're out" basis — three suspensions (30 days each) for code violations will result in permit revocation for one year. (There is a process whereby a business can appeal violations with Code Enforcement.)

These new rules are in response to concerns over safety downtown after a number of high profile shootings. City officials and business owners agree in broad terms that safety is a concern, and results from the City District's Downtown Safety Survey from February show the public agrees — 83% of respondents said they felt unsafe or very unsafe between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

“The foundation of having anything in our downtown is the safety of our residents that live downtown or that come downtown to recreate," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. "We have to balance the uses that we have as well as make sure that every resident feels safe no matter what time of day they are in our downtown.”

Commissioner Jim Gray, continuing a trend from the January meeting, did not mince words about his particular downtown vision as a place where "the business crowd takes their clients who are either in town or coming to town out for a nice dinner" and faulted downtown's nightlife economy for failing to attract a corporate, high-paying workforce.

“We often talk about the need to create higher paying jobs and unfortunately, the nighttime economy doesn't accomplish this. Corporate jobs do. People making higher wages is what's going to energize and support our investments in venues, create a village and the residential high rises that have been built,” said Gray.

Not so, offered Orlando Hospitality Alliance's Dominique Greco.  “Downtown Orlando nightlife industry injects $480 million into our local economy annually supports nearly 6000 jobs and pays out over $200 million in employee compensation.”

Greco and the OHA also contend that city leaders need to take a long view if offering viable solutions to safety concerns and the economics of downtown. “We as a community and taxpaying and law-abiding residents and business owners need to know where the city stands on truly delivering a sustainable, long-term and economically viable plan that removes full financial responsibility away from a select group of small business owners," said Greco.

Still on the table are compromises proposed by OHA including a surtax on alcohol sales at all downtown venues to defray the costs of police officer staffing, or the creation of a special taxing district downtown. 

During the meeting, downtown business owners emphasized the hefty price tags these new rules would bring, from Corona Cigars (“Right now it's going to cost us $42,000 a year for the privilege to stay open two extra hours on Friday and Saturday” ) to the Beacham Entertainment Group ("$750,000 per year") for permitting and hiring extra police.

"We are committed to safe, positive, fair and comprehensive practices. This ordinance falls short of that,” said George Maltezos, co-owner of the Beacham Entertainment Group.

Additional reporting by McKenna Schueler.

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