The Northfield City Council will discuss Sidewalk Dining at their Work Session tonight, 7:00 p.m., Council Chambers in City Hall. The City created a new ordinance last year to allow licensed establishments to serve customers on their sidewalks, if the business complied with the requirements of the ordinance.

The NDDC had worked for a number of years to have establishments licensed to sell alcohol be allowed to serve these beverages on their sidewalks. Although a welcomed initiative, the ordinance that was passed essentially treated ice cream like alcohol.

This ordinance must be re-enacted by June 23rd of this year or it sunsets. As part of the re-enactment process, the Council is considering changes in the ordinance to focus more on the control of the sale of alcohol than the sale of ice cream.

Hopefully the resulting ordinance will continue protect citizens while facilitating the expansion of business vitality in our historic commercial district. We greatly appreciate the Council’s willingness to fine-tune the ordinance.