Many community members showed up and spoke out about their opinions on the riverfront district proposed by Marion Mayor Ronald Morrell Jr. at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
The proposed project would encompass a section of Marion’s downtown along the river and would bring extra liquor licenses to the area for businesses, Morrell explained at the council meeting.
Morrell introduced several local business owners who said they would invest in operating out of the riverfront district if it was available.
Morrell gave the council members a packet of letters of support from a variety of elected officials, including Rep. Lori Goss-Reaves and Sen. Andy Zay.
The project is intended to stimulate economic growth and development, Morrell said, instead of economic development being an empty platitude or campaign promise.
“This is a situation where the rubber actually meets the road, where economic development and increasing our tool bag, our toolbox to make economic development possible in our city, is right in front of us,” Morrell told the council. “...This is to foster growth, vibrancy and engaging experiences for our residents and visitors alike.”
Morrell introduced Joe Thallemer, the former mayor of Warsaw, Ind. Thallemer shared about how the development of a riverfront district positively impacted his city.
“We’re using that downtown vibrancy to try and attract housing in the upstairs of our buildings, as well as a mixed-use apartment. We’ve developed a vibrant art scene in our downtown and it just improves the walkability of the downtown,” Thallemer said. “People come downtown on a good night. They may go have a whiskey in the whiskey room. They can then go across to the high-end restaurant, or they may bring their family down to the Mexican restaurant… and then walk down to enjoy the art, walk around the courthouse. And it begins to create a destination in your downtown. I believe it’s a critical step to meet your own vision for a vibrant downtown.”
New director of the Grant County Economic Growth Council Chuck Binkerd spoke in favor of the development and said it would improve quality of life in the city, which attracts future residents and developers. Additionally, Binkerd said data shows that projects like this tend to increase property values anywhere from 24 percent to 49 percent.
Morrell said the number of additional liquor licenses added by the riverfront district was at the discretion of the administration and the council.
Morrell also emphasized that the riverfront licenses were different from other liquor licenses because they are non-transferable and are limited to the confines of the riverfront district, so someone cannot get a liquor license for cheap and then turn around and sell it for a profit. Once a restaurant is no longer using the license, it reverts back to the city to give to a different business.
The public hearing for the riverfront district’s ordinance was full of varying opinions.
Alan Dray, who owns the Green Olive Pub, spoke on behalf of the Grant County Tavern Owners Association.
Dray said they were not necessarily opposed to the district and that they want to see Marion grow, but they did have some concerns.
“We want people to invest in Marion– we’ve already done that. …We’re concerned about what kind of impact that’s going to have on our licenses and our businesses that we already have invested in Marion,” Dray said. “...We rely mostly on entertainment dollars for our businesses to survive. …We don’t know how many (liquor licenses) it’s going to bring in, but no matter what, when we’re looking at entertainment dollars, there’s only so many entertainment dollars that are available.”
Charles Moon, a community member and pastor, spoke against the project. The addition of more locations to drink would require hiring more police officers, he said, and he did not think people needed alcohol to be able to enjoy their meals at a restaurant.
Bill Creech said he thought the discussion should be broader than possible liquor licenses and include possible stores, entertainment and other businesses that may open in the area too.
“We keep talking about just a liquor license. To me, you want to sell the idea, sell the whole package of what you’re looking at. Give a better view of what you’re really trying to accomplish,” Creech said. “I think that will clear up a lot of what we’re talking about here and I think it would be absolutely great.”
Linda Wilk spoke in favor of the district.
“I think it’s a quality of life issue,” Wilk said. “I think we’re overstating the liquor licenses. You can easily go to many restaurants and not drink. I think that that’s a starting point. It’s something we truly need. I will say that if there’s quality of life, you’re going to run into social connectedness, you’re going to decrease domestic violence and other crimes– that’s been proven by the Center for Disease Control, so we need this.”
Nearly a dozen and a half people spoke in the public hearing. Some supported it wholeheartedly, including several members of Morrell’s administration like Chief of Staff Robin Fouce, City Attorney Michael Hotz and Controller Dana Gault. Others were strongly in opposition to it, while a few were undecided but had concerns.
At the end of the public hearing, the council voted to suspend the rules and pass the ordinance on second reading, meaning the project has cleared the first hurdle to development.
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