Bloomington will consider additional conditions on a restaurant that wants to sell alcohol on its outdoor patio.
The city council votes Monday night on a liquor license for a beer garden at Eric's Too Restaurant at 921 Maple Hill Road, near Interstate 55.
The council kicked it back to the liquor commission in October after hearing complaints from neighbors.
The new plan limits alcohol sales an hour earlier each night and bans all amplified sound outside. The patio would be allowed to remain open until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 10 p.m. the rest of the week, but alcohol sales would be cut off one hour prior to the patio closing.
City manager Tim Gleason said it's a reasonable compromise.
“This is something that I think was very appropriate. Some council members had concerns,” he said. “They had heard from members of the public and the process worked like it should.”
Managers of two nearby hotels had complained about loud music, fights, trash and concerns for their guests’ safety.
Cannabis
The council is expected to vote on marijuana regulations at its Dec. 16 meeting.
Gleason said he doesn't think there's council support for cannabis cafes, which would allow on-site consumption.
“The conversations that I’ve had up to this point, I don’t know that there is majority support for that topic that was approved at planning commission, but we will see,” Gleason said.
Gleason said he hasn’t formally polled the council yet and there’s still time for council members to decide how they will vote.
Gleason added he plans to include on-site marijuana consumption among a menu of options for the city council to consider next week “out of respect to what the planning commission work has been on this topic for us.”
No Illinois cities have allowed for cannabis cafes yet when recreational marijuana becomes legal in Illinois in January.
The city's planning commission endorsed on-site consumption last month, calling it a social justice issue because property owners can ban cannabis use on their premises.
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