New restaurant negotiates with Carrollton-Riverbend association for liquor license

A new restaurant called Cowbell planned for the far Uptown end of Oak Street is nearing an agreement with its neighbors to be able to serve alcohol, despite a city moratorium on new liquor licenses in the area.

The Carrollton-Riverbend Neighborhood Association generally supports allowing Cowbell to serve drinks, if the restaurant’s owners will sign and abide by a good-neighbor agreement, said association president Jerry Speir at a Thursday night meeting.

What remains are the exact terms of the agreement, and on the table are a list of conditions fairly common on both Oak Street and on other commerical corridors.

• The business must remain a restaurant, not a bar, meaning that it must sell more food than alcohol.
• A separate requirement that drinks must only be served with food was discussed, but members rejected it as overly restrictive.
• Drinking on the street is prohibited, as are go-cups, though Cowbell will be able to give patrons souvenir cups they can take with them.
• The restaurant must have an active anti-litter campaign.
• Signs advertising alcohol are generally restricted, unless the owner wants to use no more than one antique sign for an establishment such as Jax Brewery.
• Video poker is restricted for the restaurant’s first year, and may only be added after additional negotiation with the neighborhood association after that.

Most of the restrictions, Speir said, are intended to ensure that Cowbell functions as a restaurant, and not merely as a bar. Many neighbors noted that the agreement will be difficult to enforce – likely requiring a civil lawsuit – but Speir pointed out that the agremeent will remain on file and may give future owners of the property pause if they plan to convert it to a bar.

“It may be unenforceable, but it keeps it as the idea of a restaurant,” Speir said.

The board was short of a majority of members Thursday night, so the association’s position is not yet final, Speir noted. Based on the discussion, he said he would email the remaining board members for their opinion before returning to Cowbell’s owners.