City may cut back outdoors drinking

COEUR d'ALENE - The city of Coeur d'Alene might scale back late night drinking - at least outdoors.

The city's General Services Committee is recommending the city cut an hour off the time limit for serving alcohol to sidewalk-sitting patrons, from 11 to 10 p.m.

The reduction proposal is one of several the committee forwarded to the City Council Monday for consideration in early March, as officials, business owners, residents and law enforcement agencies continue to work together on ways to make downtown safer heading into the summer season.

"If we get a reputation downtown for the wild, wild West," said John Bruning, city councilman and committee member, "it'll drive business out."

Not that it has that reputation right now, City Councilman Mike Kennedy said, but the pendulum could be moving in that direction if nothing is done.

"We're all in this together," said Kennedy, who is also the chair of the general service committee, adding that now could be time to enforce new rules in light of some complaints about downtown the city has received.

City staff brought forward the possibility of modifying its policy pertaining to food and alcoholic beverage service areas on public sidewalks since it reviews licenses annually. But recent news of incidents involving guns and alcohol prompted officials to consider a number of new rules to help restore a safe reputation for downtown.

"I think it would be big," said Police Chief Wayne Longo on the hour scale back. "I don't know if it would solve everything."

For full-scale restaurants with sidewalk seating, they would lose one hour, while for limited service establishments, cut off is 9 p.m.

But if either type of establishment closes their kitchens before those times, then they wouldn't be allowed to serve alcohol outside either.

The difference between full scale and limited service establishments is essentially whether they use a class one hood in their kitchen - a defining aspect of a commercial kitchen that restaurants use when food is their primary product, according to city officials.

Dave Pulis, co-owner of the Moose Lounge on Sherman Avenue, told the committee that reducing outdoor serving hours could hamper business, something that could be troubling for some businesses in general given the difficult economy.

"Nobody wants to sit inside during the summer," he said. "I'd like the city to take that into consideration."

Of the 10 proposals the committee considered Monday, six are being forwarded to City Council for consideration at its 6 p.m. meeting March 2 in the Community Room of the public library.

Beside the hour reduction, City Council will now consider reducing the size and location of outdoor allotments to allow for "small or modest seating areas" on the sidewalks, according to staff reports.

Instead of reserving 42 inches of minimum passage for pedestrians on those sidewalks, outdoor seating would be confined to allow the majority of the sidewalk to remain open for foot traffic, while placing the setups against the building facade would ensure zig-zagging table layouts wouldn't interfere with the passersby.

Those changes would make all the establishments design their outdoor areas to the same standard instead of relying on how big the sidewalk actually is, said Jon Ingalls, deputy city administrator.

The modification is especially timely considering the city has received interest in establishing outdoor seating areas for Midtown businesses, which have much larger sidewalks with which to work now that the renovation project there is finished, he said.

The city had received complaints from citizens for a while that the size of some outdoor seating areas along Sherman Avenue don't leave enough space for passing foot traffic, officials added.

Another change would be to add more stringent language requiring strict adherence to cleanliness standards - making businesses clean their frontage by 7 each morning, while adding a statement that failure of strict compliance could result in loss of permit.

For areas downtown that aren't in front of restaurants but still get dirtied from late night crowds, the Downtown Association would work with those owners by providing staff cleaning support, said Terry Cooper, DTA manager.

Officials at the meeting Monday said they recognized the fragile balance between hampering business and implementing new rules, but agreed steps needed to be taken in light of complaints and recent headlines. The rules would affect every business, regardless of location, but downtown was the focus during the discussions.

"It's a very important opportunity for the downtown and the city as a whole," said Bill Reagan, general manager of The Resort, who added that downtown's foot traffic in summer makes the city "vibrant" and "feel alive."

"It's a great thing," he said. "We have a very unique downtown in that we have a lake in our backyard."

The other proposed changes to the food and beverage policy would add a clarifying statement under the application that requires the applicant to furnish a copy of the menu available for the sidewalk service area and hours that food service is available.

Proposals that weren't included include controlling loitering around the permitted areas, making owners keep the outdoor areas adequately illuminated during darkness, or requiring them to place cigarette butt receptacles outside. The committee also declined to increase costs for its current $100 a year encroachment permit fee.