COEUR d'ALENE - Regardless of what type of food businesses offer, outdoor cutoff time for serving drinks will be 10 p.m.

The Coeur d'Alene City Council adopted several new policies pertaining to its food and alcoholic beverage service areas on public sidewalks Tuesday night, knocking an hour off the old time limit and adopting language to ensure business owners have their store fronts clean by 7 a.m., while leaving a majority of the sidewalk open for passersby.

"Downtown is changing," said Jon Ingalls, deputy city administrator. "This is a small component of that."

The modifications come as part of the city's annual review of license renewals pertaining to public sidewalks, but also in the wake of complaints City Hall has fielded from citizens worried about

see COUNCIL, A6

COUNCIL

from A1

downtown's safety, including, but not limited to, a couple of high profile incidents involving guns and alcohol recently.

While the city did knock off an hour for serving outdoor alcohol from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m., it won't distinguish between the types of kitchens the restaurants or bars have.

The original proposal would have allowed limited kitchens - essentially kitchens that don't operate with a heavy duty Class One hood - to only serve drinks until 9 p.m.

The council said types of eats and treats shouldn't matter - all serving establishments are the same.

"Let's not worry about the hoods inside," Mayor Sandi Bloem joked. "Let's worry about the hoods outside."

The hoods outside being the trouble makers, and four people spoke out against the changes, saying that they didn't target those rabble-rousers, but instead punished responsible patrons.

Violence and safety problems usually occur in the early morning hours, not between 10 and 11 at night, said Mike Lyon, co-owner of the Moose Lounge.

"I really feel this is penalizing everyone," agreed Char Gherke, of Coeur d'Alene.

But the changes were a matter of compromise, the City Council said, as the commission had heard several complaints calling for even stricter rules to be implemented to make downtown safer.

Should the restaurants close their kitchens before 10 p.m., they wouldn't be allowed to serve the sauce outside either.

The establishments must allow for "small or modest seating areas" on the sidewalks, leaving a majority of the walkway for pedestrians and ensuring table layouts don't zig-zag too far out, and future applicants must furnish a copy of the menu available for the sidewalk service area along with service hours.

The modifications could be reviewed again next year to see if they're working well or worth reconsidering, the City Council said.