Visitors and area residents walk down Main Street during Zelienople's Open Air Market last August. Zelienople Borough Council proposed an open-container ban Monday, sparking a contentious debate when business owners objected to the language of the proposal.

Zelienople Borough Council proposed an open-container ban Monday, sparking a contentious debate when business owners objected to the language of the proposal.

The ordinance, which will be formally considered at the council's March 8 meeting, would prohibit the carrying of open containers of alcohol on borough property except in limited circumstances.

“The borough has a liability when they put the sale of alcohol on a public property,” Police Chief Jim Miller said.

Although similar bans are commonplace among Butler County municipalities, Zelienople does not have such a prohibition, and the only state law regarding open containers pertains to alcohol in vehicles.

Because of COVID-19, area businesses utilized the borough's lack of such a ban last summer, when various events and restaurant dining areas moved outdoors, where alcohol was not forbidden to be in open containers.

Read more in Thursday's Butler Eagle.