The Oak Creek Town Board will consider an updated park ordinance next month that would allow alcohol in the town’s parks as long as a park use permit is secured ahead of time.

Currently the only way to serve alcohol in parks would be through the use of a special use permit, said Town Administrator David Torgler. Events like Labor Day or Taste of South Routt have used this permit each year for their events but most events like a birthday party or memorial service obtain a simple park use permit.

“They wanted to allow for alcohol in parks — beer and wine — associated with a permit,” Torgler said, summarizing the direction the town board gave him at its meeting on Thursday, March 9. “It seemed to be a pretty solid consensus of the board.”

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The park use permit already requires a $25 deposit, which is used to clean up after an event if needed. Torgler said the board didn’t feel the need to increase that currently, but could reconsider it in the future if that doesn’t prove to be sufficient to clean things up.

The board emphasized that they do not want to allow glass containers in the park, because as Torgler put it, “this is a park where people play and people drop stuff.”

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When the ordinance was first discussed last month, the board talked about allowing alcohol in parks generally, but eventually found support for requiring some sort of permit.

Torgler said he was still working on drafting the ordinance, and then it would go through the town’s staff reviews process to ensure it aligns with what the board requested. The current plan is to present the ordinance to the board at its first April meeting. Unlike in Steamboat Springs and Hayden, the Oak Creek Town Board only requires one vote to pass an ordinance.

“That’s what is being proposed, it hasn’t been adopted yet,” Torgler said.

To reach Dylan Anderson, call 970-871-4247 or email danderson@SteamboatPilot.com.