Oviedo on the Park open container plan moves closer to reality

On April 3, the Florida House unanimously approved a bill authorizing an arts and entertainment district at Oviedo on the Park, a de facto open container area allowing people to drink alcohol while outside or bring alcohol from one participating business to another.

With a 108-0 vote of approval in the House, HB 4031 will still need to be passed through the state Senate and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis before the Oviedo City Council could make any changes, hold public hearings and pass a city ordinance creating the district. The city began working on the initial blueprints for this plan in 2022.

The city said the plan for the district would “allow visitors and residents the ability to take a drink, poured in an establishment, in a designated cup, down to Center Lake Park and enjoy it in an outdoor setting, or during one of the City’s many festivals.”

In its current state, the district would encompass a peninsula-shaped area from East Mitchell Hammock Road, up Oviedo Boulevard, just before the Oviedo Gymnasium/Aquatic Facility, down Windy Pine Way and Boardwalk Avenue, just around Gators Dockside and back to Mitchell Hammock.

The planned Oviedo arts and entertainment district borders at Oviedo on the Park (Image provided by City of Oviedo)

Officials have said they would like to see the ability for people to have open containers throughout the district be limited to only specific times, such asOviedo’s city-sponsored Oktoberfest or the St. Patrick’s Day Festival, rather than it becoming an everyday availability. 

“I do see how it’s an unfair-feeling situation when you have a festival [going on] right there, where the city or whoever is selling alcohol … and here are alcohol-selling establishments right next to it, and you can’t take your beverage out,” Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek said. “Even if you want that and you prefer your fancy margarita, there’s no way to leave and go join the fun and free up seats for new customers to come in. So there are times when I think it would be mutually beneficial to allow people to leave with a cup.”

Currently, city-sponsored events contain borders for where open containers are allowed and where they are restricted.

“The intent of it, from my end, was when the city is doing city events, that we are making sure our small businesses and local commerce can participate and benefit from that as well,” Deputy Mayor Natalie Teuchert said. “We definitely have some details that we need to get into to make sure we’re doing the right stuff here.

“The intention is absolutely to help out the local businesses in conjunction with what the city’s doing,” she said.

While Teuchert said “it has been local-business led … we haven’t brought this up, it’s been brought up to us,” not all establishments are in favor of the possible ordinance change.

“We buy crystal glasses, so I don’t want to put good wine in a plastic cup, No. 1,” Randy Perry, owner of The Crazy Cork Wine Bar at Oviedo on the Park, said. “No. 2, I don’t want to buy these cups because I don’t see how they would benefit me. If a person comes in and buys this cup and were to take a glass of wine out, they’re leaving the premises. Where are they going with that plastic cup? Are they going to the next bar?

“That could cause multiple problems for me, especially if they came [from another establishment] with a spirits cocktail and came into my bar where I don’t have a liquor license to serve spirits, and I could lose my license if an agent from the state showed up and said, ‘Well, you’ve got alcohol in here,’” he said. 

The type, style and design of the designated cups would be determined by the City Council, and it is not yet known how much establishments would have to pay to have them available.

Limiting open container availability would also limit any need for additional law enforcement resources to be added to Oviedo on the Park. Additionally, having it available at all times could increase other potential issues in regards to impaired driving and pedestrian safety, Sladek said.

“I don’t need somebody to convince me that there’s a lot of liability if we don’t do this strategically,” Sladek said. “I think it’s asking for more problems than we’re prepared to handle, except when we already have police there for events. So when we already have that heightened law enforcement plan, no problem, they’re already on site.”

The main purpose city officials see of the district is to see an increase in business for the surrounding establishments, potentially having them partner with the city during events.

Perry, however, doesn’t see it as a potential benefit to his bar’s bottom line. 

“I don’t see what value you’re bringing to the local businesses, that’s really what it comes down to,” he said. “There is no value to local business, and yes, we have talked to other [neighboring business owners].

“If [patrons] had this cup that supposedly would allow you to walk around the premises, there’s no reason they can’t take that home and mix their own drink and come out and do it again,” he said. “There’s 1,100 dwelling units within a half-mile walking distance of our bar, and there’s nothing to prevent them from going back to their own house and making their own drink and taking it wherever they want.

Additionally, Perry, who said he would opt out of the plan if it does indeed pass, doesn’t think allowing open containers throughout that large a section of the park fits with the area’s vibe.

“We’re not Key West. We’re not New Orleans,” he said. “I can’t figure out what it is they’re hoping to accomplish by going down this path.”

Mount Dora in Lake County created an entertainment district with an open container ordinance in 2018.