Restaurants in Irving soon will be able to sell more alcohol -- and eateries in Las Colinas will be able to sell a lot more.

The City Council on Thursday night voted to change Irving's alcohol ordinance to allow all restaurants to have a 50-50 ratio of alcohol to food sales.

North of state Highway 114 in Las Colinas, sales of alcohol can now be up to 70 percent of a restaurant's sales.

The previous ordinance, which was more than 30 years old, required all restaurants to maintain a ratio of 60 percent food to 40 percent alcohol.

Proponents of changing the ordinance said raising the alcohol limit would boost business. The local chamber of commerce has said that keeping the old ordinance would jeopardize developments such as the $125 million Water Street project.

But those who were in favor of keeping the 60-40 ratio said they feared raising the alcohol level would lead to negative changes in parts of the city.

It was not immediately known when the new measure, which passed by a 7-2 vote, would take effect.