Big changes could be coming to St. Paul's restaurant industry -- but one key step remains before new neighborhood establishments can serve up gin and tonics.
The St. Paul City Council on Wednesday voted to lift the citywide cap on liquor licenses for neighborhood restaurants, but a final decision on adjusting the county charter accordingly won’t happen until Dec. 16.
Changes to the Ramsey County Charter require a "yes" vote from all seven city council members, and it looks like there's a possible hold-out: Dan Bostrom.
The changes will impact new restaurants outside of downtown and other major commercial development districts, which are already exempt from the cap.
Neighborhood restaurants serving martinis.
For decades, the city has allowed neighborhood restaurants to share 200 licenses to serve hard liquor, such as martinis and Bloody Marys. Some neighborhoods, such as Highland Park, constantly operate at or near their share of the cap.
In addition to eliminating the cap entirely, the latest vote also redefines what a restaurant is, no longer requiring that a specific percentage of sales come from food while adding other restrictions on serving times.
The St. Paul Charter Commission has already supported the changes, which were widely embraced by restaurant owners and are expected to make opening new establishments easier. Under the new rules, neighborhood restaurants must stop serving food and alcohol at midnight, except for existing establishments like Mancini's Char House and Lounge, which will be “grandfathered in.”
Still, the changes are not quite a done deal. On Wednesday, Bostrom asked the council to hold off on voting on a necessary amendment to the Ramsey County Charter. Council President Russ Stark told him that he could lay the issue over for a week, but no more than a week.
If the amendment passes the council on Dec. 16, the new rules will be implemented in early 2016. If the vote isn't a unanimous 7-0, expect a lengthy, possibly contentious discussion in the New Year. And there's also the option of putting the question to public referendum in November 2016, nearly a year from now.
In other words, the city council meeting of Dec. 16 could bring out the fireworks, indeed...
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