By Kevin Eigelbach
NKyTribune reporter
Soon, you might be able to buy a beer at one of the restaurants in RiverCenter in Covington, and walk around on the patio drinking it, without fear that a police officer would write you up for violating the state’s open container law.
At Tuesday’s Covington City Commission meeting, commissioners heard details of RiverCenter Entertainment Ventures LLC’s plan for Piazza at RiverCenter, an outdoor space for concerts, weddings and the like, on the patio in front of RiverCenter. Part of the plan would be for patrons to move freely along the patio with their drinks in hand.
In order for that to happen, the city would have to designate the area as an entertainment destination center, something that exists in three other places in Kentucky: at Newport on the Levee, at Fourth Street Live! in Louisville and at The Summit at Fritz Farm in Lexington.
In those centers, alcohol may be openly consumed in public places, City Attorney Michael Bartlett said.
Three restaurants now operate on the first floor of RiverCenter: FIRE at RiverCenter, Biscuits to Burgers and Butlers Pantry. The company wants to fill the rest of the empty storefronts in the two RiverCenter buildings with restaurants as well, chief operating officer Jeff Ritson told the commissioners.
The entertainment destination center wouldn’t extend across East RiverCenter Boulevard, the road that runs south of RiverCenter, Ritson said. The company would be responsible for hiring security to keep people from leaving the designated area with alcoholic beverages in hand, he said.
The company plans to add multi-colored awnings to the patio, he said, and is considering other amenities as well, but he didn’t name any.
At its regular meeting next week, the commission plans to have first reading for an ordinance that would define the boundaries of the entertainment destination center more precisely.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the commission heard more about these items it will be considering at its next meeting:
A contract with the design firm Woolpert for a final redesign of Phase One of Riverfront Commons, a large development on the city’s riverfront. Woolpert designed the original project in 2014, but the city asked for a redesign on a smaller scale.
The contract calls for the city to pay Woolpert $135,000 for the final design, which the city would pay out of the $2.1 million in bond money it has set aside for the project, said City Engineer Rick Davis.
The price tag for the redesign didn’t sit well with Mayor Joe Meyer, who said his gut reaction was that Woolpert was “trying to retire” on the project. But Davis assured him that the contract was not out of line.
A contract for $21,000 with Groundwork Cincinnati, a nonprofit that employs high school students, to remove honeysuckle and other invasive plants from the Licking River Greenway Nature Trails, which run along the river from Randolph Park to a point near Holmes High School. As the plants are removed, which will take all this year, they will be replaced with native tree saplings.
Council members asked Parks and Recreation Director Rosie Santos to press Groundwork Cincinnati to hire Holmes students to do the work, with Meyer asking her to report back on how many were hired.
The commission also eard new Economic Director Tom West present a 27-page report on his strategy for moving his department in the right direction. His next project will be to revise the city’s existing zoning and historic preservation guidelines and consolidate them into a development code.
His report won praise from Council Member Tim Downing, who called it clear, concise and “absolutely amazing.”
