SYRACUSE — By a 3-2 vote, the Syracuse City Council has agreed to allow restaurants to serve alcohol for on-site consumption.

No restaurants have yet requested to serve alcohol in the city, but the move will give developers HBN a wide range of restaurants to woo to a 10-acre parcel of land where they plan to bring a movie theater.

The parcel sits immediately west of the Wal-Mart on Antelope Drive.

Until the vote late Tuesday night, residents could buy beer at a local grocery store in the city but not at a gas station that sits adjacent to the city's fire department and not at Wal-Mart, which opened recently and sits near Syracuse Junior High.

Council members Dean Steel and Lurlen Knight opposed the ordinance.

"I think alcohol has a terrible impact on society," Steel said. "I don't think it's worth the cost. We have a unique community, and we ought to keep it that way."

Knight proffered an amendment to the ordinance that would have allowed restaurants to sell alcohol if they are located 600 feet or more away from parks, schools, churches or public buildings. His motion failed, and so did Steel's motion to leave the city's current ordinance as is.

The ordinance that the council passed allows restaurants to sell alcohol if they are 600 feet away from parks, schools, churches or public buildings as a pedestrian walks or 200 feet away as the crow flies.

The city will also permit one restaurant per 6,000 residents to sell alcohol for consumption on-site, and no more than 40 percent of a patron's tab can reflect alcohol purchases.

During a public-comment portion of the meeting, residents spoke for and against the change. Some wondered where the city would draw the line and if restaurants could serve alcohol, would clubs and taverns come next? Others argued that more alcohol sales would make the city less safe.

Councilman Phil Orton said he talked to servers at various restaurants to get their opinions on serving alcohol and felt encouraged when they told him servers are the first line of alcohol enforcement. A server and restaurant can be held liable if a patron drinks too much and gets in a crash, Orton said.

Councilman Danny Hammon said the city can't solve the problems alcohol creates.

"I cannot think that I can completely regulate complete safety by ordinance," Hammon said.

Meanwhile, other cities could reap the added sales-tax revenue if restaurants decide to locate elsewhere, he said.

Mayor Fred Panucci said eliminating the possibility for an alcohol-serving restaurant from Syracuse won't change the safety of the city.

"They're just going to drive to Layton and have that beer or glass of wine and then drive home to Syracuse City," he said. "I really struggle with thinking that a Mimi's or an Applebee's or a Chili's is bad for a community."

No restaurants are lined up yet, said Steve Hawes, one of the developers. But now that the ordinance is in place, he and his partners can aggressively recruit a variety of owners to Syracuse.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com