City commissioners had better start thinking right now of reasons why every drinking establishment in downtown Lawrence shouldn’t have an outdoor seating area.

The City Commission’s decision on Tuesday to allow the Bourgeois Pig, 6 E. Ninth St., to retain its outdoor seating opens the door to any number of other downtown businesses that want the same privilege.

Up until now, sidewalk seating had only been allowed for businesses that make at least 70 percent of their revenue from food sales. Although the Bourgeois Pig, a coffee shop and bar, doesn’t meet that standard, it mistakenly was granted a sidewalk license in the mid-1990s. The problem was brought to the city’s attention by the Pig’s new owners, who said they had no idea about the license issue when they bought the property.

Commissioners reasoned that because there had been no complaints about the Bourgeois Pig and because it apparently was the city’s fault the license was granted in the first place, allowing the license to stand was the right thing to do. However, this seems to be a case where two wrongs don’t necessarily make a right.

City officials should brace themselves for a flood of requests from various downtown establishments wanting the same deal that was granted to the Bourgeois Pig. If the 70 percent food requirement is no longer to be in effect, any number of businesses – and particularly bars – are likely to seek outdoor areas.

If Lawrence had a downtown plaza like Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall, the additional seating areas might not be a problem, but the existing seating areas already are encroaching on pedestrian space. Of even more concern, however, is the possibility that outdoor seating areas will encourage potentially unruly crowds of alcohol-consuming patrons to gather outside local drinking establishments. Some bar owners have coveted such outdoor areas ever since the city’s smoking ban was instituted, and this looks like their chance to get their wish.

Commissioners can take these requests on a case-by-case basis, but Tuesday’s decision will leave them open to criticism, or even legal action, if their judgments are inconsistent. Having tossed out, at least in one case, the 70-percent food requirement, they will need to find some other basis on which to regulate outdoor seating areas or risk an undesirable proliferation of such areas.

To that end, the city staff has been instructed to prepare a report on what regulations might be needed to allow bars to add sidewalk seating areas. Staff members and commissioners should tread carefully as they enter this new territory, which could have a significant impact – good or bad – on the ambiance of Lawrence’s downtown.