By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The city of Hays last fall was the first in Kansas to implement the state's newly updated law regarding common consumption areas for drinking alcoholic beverages outdoors within city limits.
There were several work session discussions by the Hay City Commission involving the Hays Police Department and Kansas Alcohol Beverage Control agents before it was approved in the downtown area.
Now, a tweak needs to be made to the ordinance.
As the weather warms up this year, city staff has been getting questions about the legality of drinking in Union Pacific Park, 10th and Main, and the site of the downtown pavilion.
One of the rules of the common consumption area prohibits possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages purchased outside the district in the area.
Union Pacific Park is not part of the district; however, another city ordinance does allow consumption of alcohol in all city parks.
"After consultation with the state, a minor revision to the current CCA ordinance can be approved allowing this long-standing tradition to continue, " Collin Bielser, deputy city manager said during Thursday's work session.
The Downtown Hays Development Corporation also participated in the discussions with Kansas Alcohol Beverage Control and received clarification about its Brews on the Bricks event on June 15.
The fundraiser will be held in the 100 block of East 10th Street between Main Street and Oak Street, which encompasses the Union Pacific Park and pavilion.
The event will maintain controlled access points and therefore can continue to be held in the confines of the CCA as in years past.
Commissioners are expected to approve the ordinance revision their meeting this week.
In other business, commissioners heard
• An annexation request for property at 4885 General Hays Road for the Norene Unrein Trust. It is adjacent to the lot the applicant is developing for relocation of Vernie's Trux-N-Equip and is contiguous to the city limits.
• Annexation request for a 25-foot strip of land at 2500 E. 13th inadvertently left out of the legal description of the original annexation for the property to the east where the new high school will be built.
• Request for general nuisance abatement at 400 E. 13th. The property has had 14 code violation cases since 2017.
City Commissioner Alaina Cunningham was absent from the meeting.
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