Plaza Midwood residents back social district at City Council. When could it be approved?
The Charlotte City Council heard public comments Monday on what could be the city’s first social district.
At a hearing at Monday’s council meeting on the creation of the Plaza Midwood Social District, members of the community’s merchant’s association and neighborhood association expressed support for the idea. It would allow people to carry open containers of alcohol along parts of Central Avenue.
Social districts were first legalized in North Carolina in 2021, and the Plaza Midwood Merchants Association said in late summer it intended to file an application to establish one, The Charlotte Observer reported previously. Other groups that had conversations with the city about social districts include Angry Ale’s and Brazwell’s in South End, The Goodyear House in NoDa, Charlotte Center City Partners and real estate developer Crescent Communities.
The city’s social district application process takes a minimum of four to six months, according to its social districts standards guide.
What’s a social district?
Social districts are defined areas, permitted by the city, within which people can carry alcoholic beverages in public. The alcohol must be served in specially marked cups, and the boundaries of the district must be marked with signs, according to the state law.
They were legalized in North Carolina by the state legislature in 2021, and the Charlotte City Council approved a framework for them in August 2022.
More than 30 cities and towns across the state have established social districts since they were legalized, including in Charlotte-area communities such as Gastonia, Salisbury, Kannapolis and Huntersville.
Charlotte has yet to approve any social districts within city limits.
Plaza Midwood social district
Plaza Midwood has been working on its application since the City Council approved its local ordinance in 2022, merchants association board member Phillip Gussman told the Observer in late August, and planned to file it by early September.
The proposed Plaza Midwood social district would run along Central Avenue — stretching east to west “from Louise Avenue/10th Street to Morningside Drive” and north to south “from Chesterfield Avenue to near Hamorton Place along Pecan Avenue.”
It would operate from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
The merchant’s association and “other participating members” will fund the district, city staff said at Monday’s meeting, and a committee made up of representatives of the merchant’s association and surrounding neighborhood associations would be in charge of maintenance.
The district would partner with Envision Charlotte to create “reusable stainless-steel cups with the required logos,” according to the agenda.
At Monday’s meeting, merchant’s association executive director Jason Michel said the process of putting the group’s application together “has been a challenge” but that the challenge has made their plan “stronger and better.”
“We take a lot of pride in being a widely diverse community with people from all across the spectrum of humanity, and this is the kind of activity we see as a way to really facilitate community.”
The council would be able to vote on the social district as soon as its Oct. 23 meeting, city staff said in their presentation
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