SALISBURY — When the City of Salisbury legalized the social district allowing customers to buy alcoholic drinks and walk around the designated area, it added in a few restrictions that local officials recognized went past what other areas were implementing.

“When we did introduce our social district, we put a lot of safety precautions in there, more than most other locations who have passed this since. We agreed that we’d continue to review it for safety and review it from a downtown business stakeholder perspective,” said Mayor Tamara Sheffield.

During the most recent city council meeting on Tuesday, the council removed the restriction disallowing the Downtown Social District during street festivals and other similar events, a restriction which downtown businesses said hurt them in favor of outside vendors.

“As a taxpayer, both (Main Street District) and city taxes, to not be able to serve alcohol to anyone with the ability to leave my establishment is very difficult (during the Cheerwine Festival), because people want to be outside enjoying themselves. Unfortunately, vendors coming into town are paying a small fee, but reaping all the benefits of being able to sell their wares and their alcohol,” said Samantha Haspel, Downtown Salisbury (DSI) Board of Directors vice-chair and head of the Downtown Salisbury Bar and Restaurant Guild.

DSI Director Sada Stewart Troutman said that the change would allow the district during public street festivals and city events at the Bell Tower Green. She added that she had talked with city Parks and Recreation staff that coordinate events at the Bell Tower Green and with police department officials, both of whom said that they had no issues with the change.

“We were an early adopter of the social district, so we didn’t know how it may play out. We wanted to regulate it on a day-to-day basis over using it during larger events. Now, having seen it day-to-day, we’ve seen it on some intermediate level with events such as Wine About Winter and some other events downtown, we’ve seen it in other communities, and we feel much more comfortable that this is a successful way to implement the social district,” said Troutman.

After the presentation, the members of the city council voted unanimously to approve the ordinance change.

This is the second time in the last year that the city has peeled back some of the early restrictions that were placed on the social district. In September of 2024, the city council removed the district restriction requiring businesses to write the purchaser’s name and the date and time of the purchase on the cup.

In other news from the city council meeting:

• The city council honored outgoing Transportation Director Wendy Brindle for her 29 years of service to the city. Brindle announced her retirement earlier this year.
• The city council approved an update to its ordinance governing interference with permitted events, banning amplified sound within 100 feet of a permitted demonstration, street festival or other special event. City Attorney Graham Corriher said the ordinance was brought forth to allow permit holders the ability to control the sound at their own events, but that he and the city did not want to unnecessarily stifle people who wanted to spread a message.
• The council approved the destruction of 516 S. Clay St. and 918 Newsome Road, both of which had been ruled unfit for human habitation and had issues with trespassing, said Code Services Manager Michael Cotilla.