City commissioners agreed to place a temporary moratorium on new sidewalk seating areas in downtown while regulations are developed, but they told staff members not to dally on the work.

Commissioners at their March 29 meeting followed a recommendation from the city’s Historic Resources Commission to place a moratorium on new sidewalk dining applications. But commissioners also said that the moratorium should last no longer than 45 days.

Commissioners did hear from three downtown bar owners who asked commissioners to not impose the moratorium. Nick Carroll, an owner of Jackpot Saloon and the Replay Lounge, said that the city’s smoking ban was beginning to hurt the city’s live music scene, which had been an energizing force for the downtown area.

“The problem is we have taken some hits from the smoking ban,” Carroll said. “This is a way we can recover some of our sales.”

Currently 70 percent of a business’ sales must come from food or nonalcoholic drinks to receive a sidewalk dining license. But commissioners have considered dropping the food requirement as a way to help downtown bars cope with the smoking ban.

Commissioners did hear from a handful of people who urged the commission to impose the moratorium. Dennis Brown, vice president of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance, said his organization had concerns about the proliferation of sidewalk dining and how it would affect the ability of pedestrians to use the area.

“While the situation is already out of hand, we are alarmed at how much worse the situation can be,” Brown said.

Brown said commissioners ought to consider requiring the railing for sidewalk seating areas to be temporary so that businesses could remove it on days or hours that sidewalk dining was not feasible.