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Customers eat outside The Noble South in downtown Mobile, Ala., on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

The Noble South might offer a farm-to-table menu full of unique Southern cuisine, but the trendy downtown Mobile eatery no longer can provide beer and wine to its al fresco diners.

The reason? Alabama's ABC Board recently began enforcing a more-than-40-year-old law that prohibits restaurants and bars from selling alcohol on public rights-of-way, namely sidewalks and parking lots.

The clamp-down is causing something of a shock in the city, which has worked hard to create a pleasant outdoor ambiance in downtown, establishing entertainment districts where patrons can walk about with drinks in their hands.

Now, numerous downtown spots have learned that they can no longer sell beer or wine to patrons seated by their front windows at outside tables and benches.

"When someone wants a cocktail, they have to come inside to get it," said Myles Mead, manager of the 2-year-old Noble South on Mobile's Dauphin Street. "It's a little disappointing that if someone wants a glass of wine, they have to come inside to get it. It's not the kind of service we'd like to give."

Statewide concern

Mobile won't be alone in trying to manage Alcoholic Beverage Control agents' stepped-up enforcement. In fact, word is rapidly spreading statewide.

"For some reason, ABC has recently begun a series of anti-small business efforts and it's really disappointing to see that," said Chad Emerson, president and CEO of Downtown Huntsville Inc.

Said Carol Hunter, spokeswoman of the Downtown Mobile Alliance: "I don't know what the agenda is. I just know what the result is. The result is the decrease in revenue for the business, the city and the state."

Levon Manzie, who represents downtown Mobile on the City Council, suggested that ABC is trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist. "I haven't heard one complaint about a server or alcohol outside," he said.

The state ABC recently added 16 civilian compliance specialists who are charged with inspecting alcohol license holders, giving it new ability to check compliance with laws that might previously have been overlooked.

Dean Argo, an ABC spokesman, said the concerns about outdoor sales on rights-of-way surfaced after a newly trained compliance officer spotted "a couple of restaurants in Mobile" where tables and chairs had "taken over a portion of the sidewalk."

The officer told the establishments that their licensed premises covered only the building itself.

"Serving on the sidewalk, you are serving on the public's right-of-way, which is a city issue and a state issue," said Argo. "We asked them to stop serving where the tables are located on the public right-of-way."

LODA Biergarten in downtown Mobile, Ala., has tables and chairs set up on the sidewalk adjacent to the business. Alabama's ABC Board recently increased enforcement against beer and wine sales to these outdoor tables. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

He said, "If the table is on the sidewalk, there is no way to monitor who is coming and going. You could have a person who is over served or an underage minor sit down and take a drink from someone because there is no way to monitor that."

Argo added, "This new trend of putting tables on sidewalks sounds really wonderful when serving food and coming and going, but when it comes to serving alcohol, we tell our licensee's that you have to control who is getting that alcohol."

There are some exceptions to the rule, however. Restaurants and bars with outdoor patios or decks, for instance, can still serve alcohol there because the attachment is considered part of the establishment's property.

Franchise agreements

Some cities have sought to find work-arounds that satisfy the ABC, or at least keep it at bay. Montgomery and Florence, for example, enacted ordinances creating franchise arrangements through which restaurants and bars could extend their properties to nearby city sidewalks.

Kim Fehl, city attorney with Montgomery, said the issue arose a few years ago with regard to clubs and eateries in The Alley entertainment district. She said ABC officials told the city that the establishments could not serve beer or wine to customers outside because they were on public rights-of-way. The city, in turn, gave the establishments license agreements that enlarged their premises beyond their buildings.

"The ABC board has recognized that as long as we give them permission to use it as their premises, they also allow for it," said Fehl.

In Florence, the sidewalk areas must be enclosed by fencing to qualify as a business premises. In that city, there's a $100 annual fee for the franchise agreement.

Hunter said that any kind of fencing would be problematic in Mobile, an older city with narrower sidewalks along its historic core streets. "More wrought iron railings puts in more obstacles," she said.

Moreover, she said, the ABC has had nothing to say about outdoor service until now, three years after the city's entertainment districts sprang to life. "Sporadic enforcement creates a cloud of confusion wherever it happens," Hunter said.

Festival reprieve

Downtown Mobile bars will get a reprieve this weekend during the Ten Sixty Five music festival. The three-day "one-time limited use agreement" was negotiated by Mayor Sandy Stimpson and the ABC last week.

Hunter said she hopes that state lawmakers will intervene, but acknowledged that any movement on a bill wouldn't happen until early 2017 when the Legislature's regular session gets under way.

Meanwhile, two of Mobile's biggest events - its New Year's Eve "MoonPie Over Mobile" celebration and February's Mardi Gras - have not been addressed. Both events lure giant crowds to downtown.

"We'd like to sit down with the mayor's office and some of the bar owners and see what our options are moving forward," Hunter said.

Said Manzie: "I'm hopeful this issue can be quickly addressed because it is causing some unnecessary concerns to the bar owners. This is prohibiting something that has never created a problem before."