Social District Debate Reveals, and Maybe Widens, "Divide" among Brevard Residents

Though impacts of the District, which City Council voted to create Monday, may be limited, the debate over it was heated and revealed a split between interests of tourism and longtime residents.

Stretch of Main Street included in the newly created “Social District,” where restricted carrying of open containers of alcohol will be allowed

BREVARD — Given the restrained behavior of wine-sipping customers during Heart of Brevard’s 4th Friday Gallery Walks, easing restrictions on outdoor drinking in Brevard’s new Social District seems unlikely to trigger mayhem, Lucy Clark said.

“Nobody’s ever been drunk and disorderly,” said Clark, who often serves wine at her self-named studio and gallery on West Main Street during the monthly events.

And though the creation of the six-block District has been touted as good for downtown business, even its biggest advocates expect it to bring less of a boom than a boost.

All in all, said Clark, standing behind a counter in her gallery on Tuesday, “I don’t think it will be a big deal.”

But the discussion about it sure was.

Not only did it draw overflow crowds to two Council meetings this month, but speakers tended to fall into distinct groups: on the one hand, older, long-time residents worried about attracting growing — and potentially rowdy — crowds of visitors; on the other, generally younger residents who see the District as a way to build the tourism economy.

James Carli, a member of the second camp, said what he heard from the first was a fear of “cultural change.”

“What are you afraid of, hikers coming off the Art Loeb Trail craving a nice, cold IPA?” he asked rhetorically. “Californians, artists, young people — what other troublemakers are you afraid of?”

Alan Mercaldo didn’t hear overblown fears, he said at the meeting; he heard “concerns.”

Concerns about the impact on children and people who struggle with alcohol use, concerns about costs and liability, he said, and “concerns about how it would change the face of Brevard.”

“We don’t need anything that’s going to divide us,”  he said at the meeting and added, afterwards, that was precisely what Council members had done.

“Now they’ve created a divide.”

“Many Dials”

Brevard first explored the idea of forming such a district after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, when struggling restaurants sought to expand outdoor dining to counter social distancing restrictions, said Mayor Maureen Copelof.

North Carolina law did not allow it at the time, but since the enabling legislation was passed in 2021 more than 40 municipalities in the state have created the zones.

Copelof and some downtown business owners attended a presentation from representatives of three of those towns at the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Main Street Conference in March, and, after returning, Copelof asked City Manager Wilson Hooper to begin researching the idea.

Staff findings, presented at a Council meeting earlier this month, found broad support for the district among residents surveyed in Raleigh, the only city to conduct a detailed study. A relatively small percentage of respondents there said that forming the district had led to increased littering and a much smaller group said it had encouraged “bad behavior,” a staff report said.

Brevard City Manager Wilson Hooper also said on Monday that Police Chief Tom Jordan had surveyed law enforcement officials from towns with social districts and that they reported “no significant impact to law and order from social districts.”

The Council, by a 3-2 vote, then approved the creation of the District, which will cover blocks on either side of Main between England and Gaston streets.

Businesses in the District have the choice to opt out, and can request window stickers alerting customers that alcohol is not allowed. And though the city has not decided what the cups will be made of or whether they will be reusable, Hooper said in an interview Tuesday, the adopted ordinance requires that they be clearly labeled for outdoor use.

The District will be open between 11 am and 10 pm daily, when it will be patrolled by a dedicated police officer, at least initially, Hooper said at the meeting. And the cost of paying this officer, about $350 per day, will be the most significant additional cost of creating the zone, he said.

Staff will monitor the program for both good and bad outcomes, and report back to the Council after six months and one year, he said. Between those presentations, and even before the rollout of the management plan — which is likely to take several months, he said — staffers can make small adjustments to the program.

“This is a proposal with many dials that can be fine tuned to get the program to your liking,” he said at the meeting.

“For the Locals”

But the Heart of Brevard downtown promotion organization, which backs the creation of the District, also presented a compromise plan with adjustments already built in.

Clark, speaking as president of the organization (not as a business owner, as she did on Tuesday) suggested, among other modifications, slightly shortening the hours and removing the county courthouse and the Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas from the District.

It could also be created as a pilot program, she said, subject to periodic reviews by Council.

That no such tweaks were ultimately included added to the impression that the majority of Council members had disregarded the concerns of the residents who spoke against it, said Council Member Maurice Jones, who cast one of the “no” votes.

“There could have been some concessions,” he said on Tuesday.

He also agreed with Council member Geraldine Dinkins, who cast the other vote against the District and who said on Monday, “I think this is a rushed proposal.”

She favored tabling the proposal while more information is developed, noting that the city is relying on data from the relatively small number of municipalities that have created districts over the short time legislation has allowed it.

“Really this is a baby law,” she said.

Failing to delay or compromise, Jones added later, left the impression that the Council had already made up its mind without considering the concerns of the many residents who spoke out against it.

“We heard a lot about tourists and a lot about the economic growth and benefits it would have,” he said Tuesday, “but nothing about the people who already live here and who have spent every day here for years. They weren’t even part of the equation.”

Though he sits on the Council’s Public Safety Committee, which unanimously voted to recommend the District’s creation, “I’ve done a 180,” he said at the meeting, before concluding, “I’m here for the locals and I’m not for it.”

Mending Hard Feelings

Advocates of the law, including Copelof and Council member Aaron Baker, pushed back on opponents’ assertions.

Far from being rushed, Copelof said, the issue was extensively researched and during the two meetings several sources noted that it was repeatedly discussed at Public Safety Committee meetings.

Does Council push the interests of the tourism industry over those of longtime residents? No, said Baker, who introduced the motion to create the District. Later at the same meeting, he said, Council voted to limit the creation of new short-term rentals in residential districts.

“That should be seen as a sign that this Council, across the board, understands that we need to balance out the tourism-based economy,” he said.

Though many speakers said that Brevard's already vibrant downtown has no need of an alcohol-fueled boost, that ignores looming competition from Pisgah Forest, Baker and others said.

Kyle Williams, the owner of Brevard Brewing Co., spoke of losing business to taprooms there with ample outdoor seating that can accommodate pets. More such establishments will likely open in the coming years with the construction of the multi-use Ecusta Trail, Copelof said: “One of the big fears that I hear is that as we develop the Ecusta, there will be a shift of emphasis to business along the trail.”

Also, just because most of the speakers were against the District doesn’t mean they represent a majority of city residents, Baker also said, adding that emails he received skewed heavily in favor of the idea.

Though his motion didn’t create the district as a pilot program, he also said, the Council can easily change course if problems emerge. He’s confident they won’t, because of the results of the staff research, especially the survey of police departments in towns that had created districts.

“As far as law enforcement issues or issues with public safety, there haven’t been any,” he said. “Any!”

Which makes him and Copelof think that in the long run, the success of the district will not only prove opponents’ fears are unfounded but mend hard feelings caused by Monday’s vote.

“Once people see it in action, they will see that 99 percent of the folks are responsible drinkers,” she said.

Maybe so, Mercaldo said, but “time will tell.”

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