On Hartsville's Open Consumption Ordinance
Note: This piece was originally published in January, 2018 and has been updated several times since. This piece is unnofficial, may not reflect the latest city code, should be considered complete, and may contain errors. For questions about this ordinance or any other part of the city code, please contact the City of Hartsville.
With anything new comes questions and concerns. I've heard a great deal of both concerning the City of Hartsville's recently passed Open Consumption ordinance that allows for the carrying of alcohol beverages within a defined area containing our primary downtown business district. It's good to have people engaged in the community and concerned about those changes. Thus, it's paramount that people have good information.
What is the Open Consumption ordinance?
Hartsville's City Council passed Ordinance 4314 at their regular City Council meeting on December 12, 2017. Like all ordinances, the vote was held after two public readings of the ordinance and a public hearing. Here's the full title of the ordinance as it was presented and approved:
ORDINANCE 4314: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING AND RESTATING CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF CHAPTER 58, ARTICLE IV OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF HARTSVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA TO PERMIT THE CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES IN PUBLIC SPACES WITHIN A DEFINED AREA; AND OTHER MATTERS RELATED THERETO.
A PDF of the entire ordinance as passed at that meeting is available here. It will soon be added to Hartsville's full Code of Ordinances that can be accessed via their website. Since reading entire ordinances is entirely boring, I'll go through some of the important parts of it as we go along.
Where is this defined Open Consumption Area?
Per Section 58-95(d)(3) of the ordinance:
Subject to the limitations in this subsection (d)(3)(a—c) below, beer and wine may be consumed in public areas within the area bounded by the following streets (the "open consumption area"): Home Avenue beginning at its intersection with North 6th Street and extending therefrom to its intersection with South 4th Street; College Avenue beginning at its intersection with North 6th Street and extending therefrom to its intersection with South 4th Street; Carolina Avenue beginning at its intersection with 6th Street and extending therefrom to its intersection with Campus Drive; Marlboro Avenue beginning at its intersection with South Sixth Street to Cargill Way beginning at its intersection with South 5th Street and extending through South 4th Street onto Railroad Avenue to its intersection with Coker Avenue including The Vista; East Laurens Avenue beginning at its intersection with South 5th Street and extending therefrom to its intersection with South 4th Street; Davis Street beginning at its intersection with South 4th Street and extending therefrom to its intersection with Coker Avenue;
6th Street beginning with its intersection with Marlboro Avenue and extending therefrom to its intersection with West Home Avenue; 5th Street beginning at its intersection with Laurens Avenue and extending therefrom to its intersection with Home Avenue; 4th Street beginning with its intersection with Davis Street and extending therefrom to its intersection with East Home Avenue; and Coker Avenue extending therefrom to the back lot line of The Vista.
Note: The area definition was updated by in Ordinance 4394 on July 14, 2020. This piece was updated to reflect that change.
Whatever that means. Here's a map:
What are the rest of the rules about the type of cup we need and all?
Some of that is defined just below the part about the map in Section (d)(3)(ii-iii):
(ii) Any drink of beer or wine dispensed pursuant to this subsection shall not exceed 16 fluid ounces in size and no Person shall possess an Open Container of beer or wine in excess of 16 fluid ounces.
(iii) Unless specifically provided for by ordinance, the regulations provided by this subsection shall remain in full force and effect during any Special Event held within the area described herein.
What about all of the normal laws about drinking?
Funny you should ask, see Section (e) of the ordinance:
(e) The provisions of this Section shall not be construed as an exception or waiver of any ordinance or South Carolina law regarding public intoxication or operating an automobile while impaired, and should not be construed as affecting dram shop liability or other liability that any such establishment may be subject to under law.
Can you just give me the highlights of what the rules are here already?
Sure:
You can only carry an open alcoholic beverage within the boundaries of the Open Consumption Area as defined above. No exceptions.
That beverage must be served to you by a business within the boundaries above between 10:00 A.M. and midnight.
The beverage must be served to you by one of those businesses in a new, clean, clear plastic cup of sixteen (16) ounces or less. You cannot take a bottle or can of beer or glass of wine to go.
You cannot bring your own cup and you cannot fill your own cup. So, yeah, that means no wine in the trunk or walking around with a Tervis or Yeti.
It is still very illegal to drink underage anywhere and the Hartsville Police Department will be watching.
It is still very illegal to be drunk in public anywhere and the Hartsville Police Department will be watching.
It is still very illegal to drive drunk anywhere and the Hartsville Police Department will be watching.
No business has to agree to give you a drink to go. It's up to them to participate.
No business has to let you come in their store with an open container. They set their own policies.
No business has to put up with customers who aren't behaving responsibly and respectfully. As always, the Hartsville Police Department will be happy to help with anyone causing a problem.
Businesses still need a license to sell alcoholic beverages.
Coker College is most definitely not in the Open Consumption Area. All of their campus policies and procedures are exactly the same.
I've seen people walking around with cups of beer at events and stuff plenty of times before. What changed?
It's long been OK to carry an open container of an alcohol beverage at permitted Special Events (and only within the marked boundaries of said events) anywhere in the City. It's also been ok at a restaurant that has a sidewalk dining permit. What this ordinance does is remove the requirement to apply for and pay for a special event permit or sidewalk dining permit to allow for open consumption in the Open Consumption Area. You can still apply for a Special Event permit anywhere else in the City and, if approved, have open consumption at the event.
Where did this ordinance come from?
The idea started with some enterprising downtown business owners that were looking for creative ways to grow their businesses and improve our downtown. They did some benchmarking by gathering information about other cities with similar policies, read their ordinances, and contacted those cities for feedback about what worked and what didn't. With the help of City staff at the Business Navigator and, of course, legal consult, all of that information was turned into the legalese speak that we see in the ordinance. The ordinance then went to City Council for review. Over the course of their review and the two reading at public City Council meetings and with public comment, they amended it some and it went up to vote and passed on December 12, 2017. The ordinance went into effect immediately.
Why would we want an ordinance like this?
There's two main arguments I can think of:
First, it's good for business. The ordinance helps encourage people to visit Downtown Hartsville and spend their money with our merchants. There aren't any cities around us that do anything like this, so it really helps set Hartsville apart as a place to come hang out and have dinner and drinks with friends.
The City of Hartsville is primarily funded by taxes. Nobody likes taxes but the truth is that they support everything from sidewalks to parks, sewers to trash pickup, and police to the fire department. The City of Hartsville is actually extraordinary lucky to have another source of revenue: The Piratesville Splashpad at Byerly Park. It feels like so few people understand that that Splashpad is revenue positive. Money from the Splashpad literally helps offset the City's costs and allows us to grow and develop without raising taxes. It's really rare for a municipality to have any enterprise that's revenue positive, so Hartsville is really lucky that we do. That's the kind of thing that results from smart, progressive leadership that is always thinking creatively and looking ahead.
OK, back to the topic. Having more people, especially visitors, downtown spending their money increases our businesses' revenue and the City's tax revenue from sales, hospitality, and accommodations taxes. This kind of economic activity helps the City of Hartsville supply quality services to us, the citizens of Hartsville without raising taxes. Again:
“Having more people downtown, especially visitors, spending their money at our local businesses increases revenue from sales, hospitality, and accommodations taxes. This kind of economic activity helps the City of Hartsville supply quality services to us, the citizens of Hartsville without raising taxes.”
The money our businesses make on sales and our city brings in on taxes gets reinvested into the City of Hartsville. The Open Consumptions ordinances supports growth of such revenue.
The second reason is that of protecting individual liberties. Responsible adults have the right to behave as such and make their own decisions. This ordinance is actually an example of the government decreasing it's reach. "What about the jackasses that don't know how to act responsibly?" you ask. The Hartsville Police Department and our community of downtown merchants and residents already does a great job of keeping downtown safe and fun for everyone. That's not going to change.
What if I'm a business owner and I don't want people coming into my business with open alcohol beverages?
You don't have to. It's entirely up to you to set your policies. If someone doesn't respect your policies, you're encouraged to contact the Hartsville Police Department and they'll be glad to help.
What if I'm a bar or restaurant owner and I don't want to give people drinks to-go?
You don't have to. It's entirely up to you to set your policies. If someone doesn't respect your policies, you're encouraged to contact the Hartsville Police Department and they'll be glad to help.
What if I'm a bar or restaurant owner and I don't want people bringing drinks from other places into my store?
You don't have to. It's entirely up to you to set your policies. If someone doesn't respect your policies, you're encouraged to contact the Hartsville Police Department and they'll be glad to help.