No alcohol without food, no dancing in the dining room and no
outdoor meals after 1 a.m. – these are among the new proposed rules
for anyone who hopes to open a restaurant in downtown Morgan
Hill.
No alcohol without food, no dancing in the dining room and no outdoor meals after 1 a.m. – these are among the new proposed rules for anyone who hopes to open a restaurant in downtown Morgan Hill.
The Morgan Hill Downtown Association has begun circulating the new suggested guidelines to local restaurant and bar owners. After gathering input from the businesses, they will submit a draft for the Morgan Hill city council to consider, according to DTA executive director Jorge Briones.
The purpose of the new rules is to promote a peaceful atmosphere among downtown residents, the businesses who provide dining and entertainment options, and the patrons of those businesses.
“What we’re really trying to achieve is for each of the establishments to come to an agreement on the best way to manage alcohol service” in a way that is safe, peaceful and supportive of those businesses, Briones said.
The current draft of the proposed rules would require any new establishment seeking a license for on-site alcohol consumption to also offer a “full service menu” for food. The draft says typical bar food such as pretzels, popcorn, potato skins, nachos and relish trays would not count as part of such a menu.
Restaurants with a separate bar area could not have more than 25 percent of its total seating in that area, and the bar could not stay open later than the restaurant.
Another proposed rule would require restaurants and bars downtown to stop serving alcohol by 1 a.m. every night, and they would have to continue offering food as long as they serve alcohol. Outdoor dining areas would have to close by 1 a.m. as well.
Furthermore, dining areas could not be converted into dance floors, and live entertainment could only be promoted as a complement to full service dining.
People are less likely to get intoxicated to the point of causing problems if they can have dinner too, according to DTA board member and downtown resident Laura Gonzalez-Escoto. She said the rules are fashioned after those currently in place in the city of Campbell, which is a “happening place.”
“When you’ve got residents adjacent to restaurants and nighttime venues, it’s a good time to start looking at how to be good neighbors with one another. We want to be sure it mixes well,” Gonzalez-Escoto said, though she admitted that she wouldn’t like some of the proposed rules “if I was 23.”
She said the city should recognize the “potential clash” between the interests of residents and the noisy or disruptive atmosphere that can occur in and around bars.
Briones added that a rule requiring downtown bars to close their doors and windows by 10 p.m. is an important noise control effort when residents live within 100 feet of loud venues.
Some of the rules intend to cut down on potential drunken driving, requiring bars to post the phone numbers for taxi cabs and offering complimentary non-alcoholic beverages for designated sober drivers.
The DTA is not seeking to subject existing establishments to the proposed rules – rather, they would apply to future permit seekers, Briones said. So downtown’s only full-fledged bar – the M & H Tavern – would be exempt from most of the new guidelines. Currently, the Tavern is open until 2 a.m. every night.
In August 2009, the DTA first floated proposals to regulate downtown bars by suggesting they be required to stop serving alcohol at midnight. That was in the midst of a growing number of incidents involving violence, property damage, noise and public urination downtown late at night, when the bars would approach closing time.
Since then, and with the closing of one of those bars – Legends Bar & Grill – the downtown has been quieter, Briones said. But the purpose of the proposed new rules is to affect the future, when large-scale redevelopment projects that could bring as many 500 more housing units downtown will be complete.
The city does not currently have an ordinance devoted solely to the permitting of alcohol establishments, but the Morgan Hill general plan and zoning ordinance regulate where such places can be located.
Ken St. Martin, a Tavern patron, said a bar is often a better place for a relaxing cocktail than a restaurant, which can be noisy and crowded, and where customers can feel pressured into ordering a meal. Plus, adding more rules creates another layer of bureaucracy, more work for city staff and more costs to businesses, St. Martin, a contractor, said while sitting at the Tavern’s bar Monday afternoon.
“If you start mandating businesses to do too many things, they’re not going to stay in business,” St. Martin said.
The DTA board hopes to submit the downtown alcohol policy draft, which could be revised based on the business establishment’s input, to the city council later this month, Briones said.
