A panel of city councilors is working now to help businesses cope with a statewide smoking ban when it goes into effect.
The city's license and fees committee is weighing its options to help the liquor industry continue to serve its smoking customers outside the confines of walls. The committee is considering options to allow liquor-serving establishments, whether bars or restaurants, to expand their premises to outdoor spaces that would allow people to eat, drink and smoke without violating a newly-adopted state law that bans smoking indoors effective July 5, 2010. The idea would allow alcohol to be taken into outdoor patios or beer gardens that are part of the defined premise so people could smoke.
A number of municipalities around the state and Duluth in Minnesota have established regulations that allow smokers to take their drinks outdoors under specific circumstances so they can smoke.
"The problem we're going to run into is where an establishment doesn't have room on private property and they're going to want to do some kind of seating on public property like a city sidewalk or a city right of way," said City Clerk Terri Kalan.
It's an obstacle that has been overcome by the Thirsty Pagan, which currently doesn't allow smoking, by leasing the sidewalk at no cost and bearing responsibility of liability insurance for the space, she said.
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The panel is seeking input from restaurant and bar owners to determine how to proceed. Kalan is developing a survey that will be distributed by Dan Corbin, president of the Tavern League of Douglas County.
"We don't really know what we want yet," said committee chairman, Councilor Bob Finsland.
That's what the committee is hoping to determine before moving ahead with a proposal to present to the council. After all, options could include outside smoking areas with or without the presence of alcohol, or allowing alcohol to be served in outdoor portions of liquor-serving premises. The premise would have to include an outside space to allow alcohol without the risk of a public consumption charge.
"We don't have any regulations regarding size, fencing, hours or anything like that," Kalan said. She said the goal of the survey is find out what would best serve the needs of the majority of bar owners.
Corbin said that would have to be defined so bar owners could better police their establishments. "We need that because otherwise you have the problem of minors coming in and we don't want that," he said.
Belknap Liquor and Lounge owner Alan Jaques agreed and said fencing could be a good solution for the potential problem.
"I think it's a real plus for Tower Avenue if it's controlled right ... it's hard when it's driving winds and a snow storm, but I think for a big part of the year" it's a solution, Jaques said.
"My big concern is that we help them out as much as we can," said Councilor Esther Dalbec, a member of the committee. "We don't want to lose business." She said some establishments have limitations when it comes to outdoor spaces for people to smoke and her goal is to be as flexible as possible to meet their needs. "We care, and we would like to see this go as smoothly as possible," she said.
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The committee set a goal of having a proposal to present to the council by January to have something in place before the smoking ban goes into effect.
"They're (smokers) are going to spill out onto the street one way or another, whether we like it or not," said Corbin, owner of Corbin's bar in rural Douglas County. "And if we can come up with some way to have those establishments conform, something they can live with and residents can live with, they will survive."
The committee meets again July 13 at 1 p.m.
