Greenville City Council approves social districts

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - The Greenville City Council voted 5-0 Thursday to create social districts in uptown Greenville.

Social districts would allow open container consumption in certain areas outside.

As part of an ABC bill, the North Carolina General Assembly is offering new opportunities for consuming alcoholic beverages in designated outdoor spaces.

The council’s first reading was Monday, followed by the second reading and vote Thursday.

Greenville mayor PJ Connelly says he’s pleased with the thought put into the decision while also considering the community.

“I think that we took a pretty conservative approach to it. we’ve limited the amount of days that it will be able and the hours that it will be available,” Connelly said. “Some of the cities have gone a little more extensive started at 11 am but we are only doing it from 5 to 10. We want to keep a good eye on the process.”

The idea to allow social districts has already been discussed in major cities like Raleigh, Durham, and Charlotte.

Connelly says the goal of the ordinance is to attract more people to uptown but the proper steps have to be taken.

“I’m hopeful that it’s going to continue bringing more comers to our area,” Connelly said. “I think it’s very important that we continue to support our locate businesses but we have to do it in a appropriate way.”

The new ordinance can’t go into effect for 45 days after the adoption, but Connelly says it will likely be longer than that as they work out all of the details.

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