When it comes to sidewalk seating areas for downtown bars and restaurants, Jerry Neverve said he is convinced city commissioners are just thinking too hard.

Neverve – owner of the Red Lyon Tavern, 944 Mass. – said he hopes commissioners will begin to turn nearly a year’s worth of thinking into action at their meeting Tuesday night.

Commissioners at their 6:35 p.m. meeting will consider approving a set of sidewalk dining guidelines proposed by the city’s Historic Resources Commission. Commissioners have said they want a new set of guidelines on the books before they deal with the heftier topic of whether downtown bars should be allowed to have sidewalk drinking areas.

Currently, only businesses that derive at least 70 percent of their sales from food or nonalcoholic drinks are allowed to have sidewalk seating areas.

“I just think they are overthinking this,” Neverve said. “I don’t understand the reason for having more regulations. I know they are trying to protect the historic nature of downtown. But I see sidewalk dining areas in a lot of historic downtowns.”

But the Rev. Verdell Taylor, president of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance, said he’s pleased the commission is taking a thorough look at the use of downtown sidewalks. Taylor said his group was concerned there would be a rush of businesses seeking the sidewalk seating, especially following last year’s enactment of the indoor smoking ban.

“We recognize that it is an issue that is growing and growing, and we know there is some concern that people won’t be able to walk downtown and enjoy it like they used to,” Taylor said. “Walking is really what downtown is about. People enjoy that element of downtown and we want to preserve that.”

Taylor said the Lawrence Preservation Alliance, though, didn’t take a position on whether sidewalk dining guidelines should be expanded to allow bars to have the areas. The new guidelines developed by the Historic Resources Commission also don’t address that issue.

Instead, they focus on more technical issues. Among the requirements spelled out by the guidelines are that no railing shall be higher than 36 inches, patio umbrellas and portable heaters will not be allowed, and railings should be designed so they can be removed during emergencies or inclement weather.

Lawrence residents Absinthe Algaier, left, Colby Pewtersmith and Esther Adany, right, socialize outside Henry's, as Justin Faleaf, Lawrence, lights a cigarette in the background on the coffee shop's outdoor patio Friday afternoon. This Tuesday evening, city commissioners plan to debate the issue of sidewalk dining and whether it should be restricted or opened up for downtown bars to allow drinking outside their establishment fronts.

Mayor Boog Highberger said he hopes once commissioners approve the new guidelines, it will open the door for a decision on the larger issues related to bars.

“I think that is an issue we really do need to get addressed pretty soon,” Highberger said.

Downtown bar owners have been seeking sidewalk seating since shortly after the indoor smoking ban in July 2004. Neverve said the bars need the areas to be able to fully accommodate customers who smoke. Currently, people can step out onto the sidewalks to smoke, but they can’t take their alcoholic drinks with them.

“My customers are out there anyway,” Neverve said. “This is just a chance to contain them. I think it will cut down on the litter because they’ll be in one area instead of up and down the sidewalk.”

But some commissioners have said they’re concerned that having the equivalent of open-air drinking areas on the sidewalk would dramatically change the ambiance of downtown.

Neverve said he was confident patrons would be well-behaved and that bar owners would closely monitor the areas because they understand the city can easily revoke a sidewalk dining license.

City Commissioner Mike Amyx said he’s doubtful he’ll be ready to decide the issue Tuesday. In particular, he said he wanted to hear more about the concern of some nonrestaurant and bar businesses that the outdoor areas were taking up too much sidewalk space.

“The sidewalks generally are for pedestrian travel,” Amyx said.

Maria Martin, executive director of Downtown Lawrence Inc., said her group had not taken a position on the issue. She said she had heard very little from merchants about the subject.

The proposed guidelines from the Historic Resources Commission require that a sidewalk dining area leave at least six feet of unobstructed sidewalk for use by pedestrians. The guidelines do not cap on how many sidewalk dining areas are appropriate for downtown. But in a memo to city commissioners, members of the Historic Resources Commission said that city commissioners may want to consider limiting the number of areas allowed in a single block.

Highberger said he would urge fellow city commissioners to not pursue that option.

“I guess I just don’t see the need for that,” Highberger said. “I think sidewalk dining has generally been a real benefit to downtown.”