Council members look at looser rules to attract more bars

"Palo Alto City Council wants more types of businesses - such as bars, cat cafes, medical spas and larger gyms - to have an easier path to opening. The city is working to relax its permitting rules in an attempt to fill vacancies around downtown and California Avenue. For bars, the city currently requires businesses selling alcohol to have at least half of their revenue come from food sales."

""I don't want it to go away, because I hear good things about it," she said. The city allows open containers at times on California Avenue, so it's strange to not allow bars there, Lythcott-Haims said. Councilman Keith Reckdahl also said he was open to having bars. "I don't understand how we have concerns that a bar would have rowdy patrons, but if we serve nachos those issues go away," he said at the meeting."

Palo Alto is considering loosening permitting requirements to attract a wider variety of businesses and reduce vacancies downtown and on California Avenue. Current rules require alcohol-selling establishments to derive at least half their revenue from food, but council members signaled openness to permitting pure bars to increase evening vitality. A pop-up cat cafe faced enforcement when classified as "kennel and boarding," prompting the city to reconsider classifications; the operator later reopened at 429 California Ave. City planners are working to clarify rules for cat cafes and other emerging retail concepts to ease openings.

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