How far could you walk from Moretti's with a glass of wine before the rules changed?
Today nobody can answer that, and that missing answer is most of the story. On October 7, 2026, the City of Upper Arlington announced that City Council is considering Designated Outdoor Refreshment Areas, or DORAs, "at certain commercial district locations in UA, including Tremont Center." The notice doesn't name any other district. It also has no map, no hours and no vote date.
What we do have is the state law any DORA has to follow, and a few neighboring suburbs that have been running these districts for years. Read those together and you can see that the Tremont Center question isn't really about whether people can carry a drink outside. It's about where the city draws a line, and Ohio law puts tighter limits on that line for a city Upper Arlington's size than most people would guess.
What the city actually proposed
The city's notice defines the idea this way:
"A Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) is a defined public area where Ohio's open-container rules are relaxed under Ohio Revised Code § 4301.82. Within a DORA, patrons may buy an alcoholic beverage from a qualifying on-premises permit holder (for example, a bar or restaurant), carry it out of the establishment, and continue consuming it within the DORA."
The key words there are "qualifying on-premises permit holder" and "defined public area." A DORA doesn't create new places to buy a drink. It lets the drink move from places that already have the right liquor permit, within a boundary the city sets. So the people who matter most are the businesses that already hold those permits, and the boundary decides which of them end up inside.
The city's Economic Development team is hosting a community meeting to explain the proposal and collect feedback. It's at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 14, at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 2151 Dorset Road. The contact is James Russell, Economic Development Manager, at 614-583-5046.
The rule that shapes everything for a city under 50,000
Ohio Revised Code 4301.82 treats cities differently by size, and the cutoff is 50,000 people, based on the most recent decennial census. The Census Bureau counted 36,800 Upper Arlington residents in April 2020, and its July 1, 2025 estimate of 35,893 is lower still. That puts UA in the smaller tier. Here's what that tier allows, compared with a city above the line:
| Upper Arlington's tier: 50,000 or fewer | Cities over 50,000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum number of DORAs | 3 | 6 |
| Maximum size of each | 320 contiguous acres | 640 contiguous acres |
| Minimum qualified permit holders inside each | 2 | 4 |
Two numbers in that first column matter here. The city's notice says "locations," plural. Under state law, Upper Arlington can have three DORAs at most, so if Tremont Center is one, only two more could ever follow anywhere in the city. And every district needs at least two qualifying permit holders inside its boundary.
Counting permit holders at Tremont Center
This is where it becomes a real question. The one Tremont Center restaurant I could confirm serves alcohol is Moretti's at 2124 Tremont Center. Its own site advertises drinks and fine wines. The center's dining page also lists Chef-O-Nette and HobNob Pizza, along with other food businesses. Chef-O-Nette is at 2090 Tremont Center. The pages I read for either restaurant don't say whether it serves alcohol.
That leaves one restaurant I could confirm serves alcohol, and even that doesn't confirm it holds a permit type that qualifies under the statute. The law requires two qualifying permit holders. A restaurant's website isn't a liquor-permit roster, so the real count could be higher or lower. But it explains why the boundary carries so much weight. The district has to be drawn so that at least two qualifying businesses fall inside one contiguous area of no more than 320 acres.
Farther up Tremont Road, Old Bag of Nails has an Upper Arlington location at 3220 Tremont Road. That's the same stretch as the Bob Crane Community Center at 3200 Tremont Road. It isn't on Tremont Center's dining list, so it doesn't count toward a district drawn around the center itself. The Kingsdale area has also changed hands recently. Houlihan's at 3150 Tremont Road closed after its lease expired on December 31, 2025. The Columbus Dispatch reported in June that a new concept, Arlington Grille, was planned for that space in late 2026. I found no later confirmation that it has opened. Whether any of that corridor ends up in a DORA is a question the city hasn't addressed publicly.
What Council has to settle before anyone carries a cup
The state law spells out the steps. An application has to include a map of the boundaries, the types of establishments inside, proof of zoning compliance and proposed public health and safety requirements. After that, the process runs on a fixed schedule:
- Within 45 days of the application being filed, the city's legislative authority has to publish notice of it.
- Council then approves or rejects it by ordinance or resolution, no sooner than 30 days and no later than 60 days after that first notice.
- Approval takes a majority vote.
A separate health and safety ordinance, which also needs public notice, has to set the boundaries, signage, hours, staffing, sanitation plans and a requirement that drinks be served in containers that aren't glass. The October 7 notice doesn't say whether an application has been filed yet, and filing is what starts the state's timeline. The October 14 meeting is a chance to learn how the proposal would work and to tell the city what you think. Any decision on the map and the hours would come later, through Council.
How Powell and Dublin set their hours
Hours are the detail people ask about most, and the closest local examples show how much they can vary.
Dublin runs a Downtown DORA that covers Historic Dublin and Bridge Park. It's open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and Council can approve extensions for special events. Dublin City Council approved both districts unanimously on April 26, 2021, ThisWeek reported. Dublin's rules prohibit bringing your own drinks and carrying a drink past the boundary. They also bar taking a DORA drink into another establishment that serves alcohol.
Powell has had a DORA since 2019 and reworked it this year. According to Delaware Source, it had run Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., until Council voted in May 2026 to expand it to every day of the week, 11 a.m. to midnight. At that meeting, Powell's Economic Development Director noted that no businesses there were staying open until midnight yet. The same report says the city had no DORA sales data, and that businesses reported higher sales during major events.
That Powell detail is useful for thinking about Tremont Center. Even after seven years, the clearest benefit Powell could point to showed up during events. The district's hours were also set wider than its businesses' actual closing times. In practice, a DORA's posted hours mark the outer limit, and the restaurants inside decide how much of that window anyone actually uses.
Wednesday, October 14, at 2151 Dorset Road
There's one more practical detail. The DORA meeting is at the same address as the Upper Arlington Farmers Market, which runs Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. at 2151 Dorset Road, next to Tremont Center's parking lot, through October 21. October 14 is a Wednesday. The market closes at 6, and the meeting starts at 6 at St. Mark's. So the people walking past Tremont Center that afternoon will be on the exact ground the city is asking about.
These are the questions the notice leaves open and the meeting may answer:
- Which other commercial districts are part of "certain commercial district locations"?
- Where would the Tremont Center boundary run, and which permit holders would be inside it?
- What days and hours are being considered?
- What would the signage, staffing and sanitation plans look like?
- When does the city expect to file an application, which starts the state's notice and vote timeline?
Until the city publishes a map, any talk about walking from one spot to another with a drink is a guess. The law requires the map, and Council has to approve it in a public vote before anything changes.
If you have questions about how a proposal like this could affect the area around your street, or what it might mean if you're thinking about selling near Tremont Center or Kingsdale, I'm happy to talk it through. I'll be following this through Council and can share what I learn as the city releases details. Sarah Moore is always glad to hear from neighbors. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
