OLD TOWN — A key neighborhood group is adopting a wait-and-see approach on whether "incidental" alcohol sales might be allowed in a precinct that's been dry for 50 years.
After meeting with Ald. Michele Smith (43rd) Wednesday, Old Town Triangle Association President Steve Weiss said he'd welcome a chance to start over on property owner David "Buzz" Ruttenberg's proposal to allow alcohol sales at Crilly Court.
"They agreed to stop collecting petitions and do a reboot of the whole thing," Weiss said Thursday.
Ruttenberg hopes to be able to entice a "boutique restaurant" to open on the 1700 block of N. Wells St., and to do so wants to be able to offer "incidental" liquor sales, meaning the majority of money spent there would be on food rather than alcohol. But the idea got a chilly reception at a community meeting last month.
This week, Ruttenberg spokeswoman Marilyn Katz offered to "reboot" the process, and that was welcomed by Weiss. But while Katz suggested Weiss should come forward with community proposals for "strictures" that would make the restaurant agreeable, Weiss said Thursday he wants Ruttenberg to "give us a much more specific plan that he envisions for a restaurant."
Weiss said Ruttenberg was basically putting the cart before the horse in seeking open-ended permission for "incidental" alcohol sales in the area. Usually, he added, someone comes forth with a more specific proposal the community either votes up or down.
He drew parallels with Marge's Still, 1758 N. Sedgwick Ave., which managed to placate local residents in getting a new liquor license.
"It's a very quiet place in a different location" from the original Old Town Marge's, he said.
The process could get complicated, Weiss added. Ruttenberg could push to allow alcohol sales in the dry precinct by getting two-thirds of the 283 registered voters to sign a petition in favor. But 90 residents live in the Crilly Court Condominium Association directly above those street-level storefronts on that block, giving that group basically the power to determine which way the issue would fall, as 185 signatures would be necessary to change it from a dry precinct.
Even if the petition were successful, the community would potentially have a 30-day period to challenge it, much as candidate petitions are challenged on signatures before anyone is placed on the ballot.
Weiss said Ruttenberg might be creating the entire problem himself by holding out for what he called "extremely high" rents on the properties.
"Buzz's complaint is that he can't find tenants," Weiss said, and that he needs to dangle the potential for alcohol sales to get a restaurant to move into the storefront.
Regardless, Weiss said, the community is taking a wait-and-see approach, asking for more specifics in the meantime.
"The association is willing to listen," Weiss said. "We don't have a position. We're just willing to listen, and as always we support the will of the membership."
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