Panel picks up festival district idea

Signs of progress are beginning to pop up everywhere in Jefferson City.

Less than a month after the Jefferson City Council's ad hoc committee on the revitalization of Old Town and the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce provided separate lists of priorities to improve the community, one shared item is beginning to see daylight with the City Council.

On Friday afternoon, the city's public safety committee listened to a presentation from city attorney Nathan Nickolaus about a proposed draft of an ordinance that would create a festival district for Jefferson City.

Nickolaus said the proposal, which he emphasized is only in its beginning stage, would work similarly to a parade permit.

"We want to look at how to make that most acceptable and the most workable," Nickolaus said.

The basic idea for the district would be that events that are granted a festival district permit would allow bar patrons to carry alcoholic beverages on designated city streets. Currently, beverages are not allowed on city streets. According to the ad hoc committee's recommendation, it would not change the city's ordinances about how or where the beverages would be sold.