The city’s Parks and Recreation Commission contemplated new rules for public consumption of alcohol at their Feb. 8 meeting, a month after their endorsement of a new set of nonsmoking rules for city parks, which broadly expanded non-smoking areas to include sidewalks and parking lots.
Unlike the smoking restrictions, which were in response to a resident’s complaints about the unhealthy atmosphere at Tuesday in the Plaza and other similar occasions, the new alcohol consumption rules are the result of the imminent expiration of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID State of Emergency declaration.
That declaration times out at the end of February, so the more lenient consumption rules that were allowed during the pandemic to help downtown businesses stay open will likewise expire, and previous limits on public consumption will once again be in effect. Unless, that is, the rules are rewritten to reflect the pandemic experience.
That’s why Mark Themig, Healdsburg’s community services director, spoke at the Feb. 8 meeting to propose a few adjustments to the Municipal Code, adjustments that reflected the experience of the past two and a half years. He said that not only have a number of downtown food and beverage businesses become used to relaxed regulations, but law enforcement and city staff have found that increased public consumption really hasn’t caused any problems.
Themig and his community services staff consulted with Healdsburg Police about possibly broadening the allowance for consumption at the Plaza. They agreed that during the recent allowance period, while isolated incidents came up from time to time, “they were infrequent and typically handled with an informal conversation,” summarized Themig.
“Community members and visitors enjoy the allowance and have not abused the temporary privilege, so staff is supportive of continuing the allowance,” recommended Themig’s report.
Themig also said they looked at other cities in the county, and suggested that Healdsburg’s Plaza Park was unique in its central significance to the city. However, Sonoma also has a Plaza Park—and it’s about seven times larger than Healdsburg’s. There, alcohol consumption is permitted between 11am and sundown daily, subject only to legal age restrictions and prohibitions against public intoxication.
Similarly, Themig proposed that the restaurant parklets where drinks are served, such as Valette, Guiso’s, El Farolito and several others downtown, would be allowed to continue serving alcohol on the sidewalk cafes. “Alcohol consumption is a core component of many of the parklets, and staff supports continuing this allowance,” he said.
While he proposed relaxing the rules on public consumption for the Plaza, to reflect the relative lack of problems that two years of more lax policies produced, he recommended leaving in place the standing restrictions against public consumption in West Plaza Park.
Themig pointed out that West Plaza Park is underutilized, lacking benches or other places to sit, and the lawn hasn’t been watered during the recent drought year. Therefore, he said, “Really it was just the lack of use in the area” that led to his initial recommendation to return the park to its previous prohibitions.
But in their review, the commission overruled him and voted to give the small park between the former Bear Republic and Foss Creek the same license that the larger, more public Plaza Park would enjoy.
Mark McMullen, a longtime Healdsburg Jazz board member, suggested during public comment that what’s good for the Plaza would be good for West Plaza Park, and questionied Themig’s rationale that very few people used West Plaza anyway. “Since there have been no complaints, and we don’t have a good survey,” said McMullen, “this is very anecdotal.”
He recounted that during the summer Raven Players production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, he and friends enjoyed a bottle of wine with the open-air play, to no adverse effects or response. “I think taking things away is not a good thing,” he added.
Commission members agreed, asking why the West Plaza Park was being excluded from the same permissions that Plaza Park would enjoy. “It seems like it’s not heavily utilized; maybe some people go there to get away from the crowds,” said the commission’s new chair, Ron Dobley. “Why not let the status quo go? If we don’t have any issues with the current usage, why not let things go?”
Themig backed down. “I think if you incorporate that in your recommendation, that it continues in West Plaza Park as well, I don’t think it will cause concern from police or our team,” he agreed, and that’s how the parks and rec commission voted.
Although the agenda for the Feb. 21 council meeting was not available by press time, City Manager Jeff Kay said he suspected the alcohol rules would end up on the consent calendar for that meeting.
“The rationale is that it is not a new policy but an extension of something that has been in place for a few years. It was initially implemented under the emergency declaration for COVID, so we are incorporating it into the Municipal Code now that the declaration of emergency is slated to expire,” Kay explained.
That means there is unlikely to be open council debate on the topic unless one of the council members chooses to pull it from the consent calendar for a separate vote, as occasionally happens during city council deliberations.
The city council will meet at 6pm on Tuesday, Feb. 21, a day later than their usual Monday meetings, due to the Presidents Day holiday. Council Chambers are located at 401 Grove St., and the meetings are also carried live on facebook.com/CityofHealdsburg.
