Bar and restaurant owners hoping to transfer liquor licenses downtown could face tighter alcohol restrictions because of recent discussion at State College Borough Council.

As a result of a presentation given at last week's council meeting, members discussed the conditions and made recommendations for transferring a liquor license for Rotelli, a Pittsburgh-based franchise moving to downtown State College.

"It would be very difficult to reject [restaurants or bars with] the same criteria down the road," said council member Jim Meyer.

Michael T. Hughes, co-owner of Rotelli, recently requested a liquor license transfer from Philipsburg to the borough.

As part of the transfer process, council members can make sure that the restaurant does not turn into a bar -- an establishment council does not want to see more of downtown.

"I see [a restaurant] that wants to add another bar to downtown," Meyer said. "I think that's a major problem."

The council recommended for the bar area in the restaurant have no more than 30 seats and be separated from the rest of the restaurant.

"Bill Pickle's Tap Room, 106 S. Allen St., has tables for people to sit at, but that is a bar," said council member Cathy Dauler.

"A bar [Rotelli] with bar seats separated is one thing, but tables in the bar ... it seems unrealistic [to not have a bar atmosphere] to me and it's
not what we're looking for," Dauler added.

Duke Gastiger, owner of the All American Rathskeller, 108 S. Pugh St., and Spats Café, 142 E. College Ave., said he thought the answer to council's concerns would be to eliminate the bar altogether but allow alcohol service at tables.

"There's no bar in Spats," he said. "If [Hughes is] interested in table service, he should not object to no bar."

According to a 2003 amendment to a 2001 law, liquor licenses are transferable within counties, as long as the receiving municipality approves the transfer.

Because State College already has 21 of Centre County's 75 liquor licenses, the recommendations given by council focus on assuring that Rotelli does not increment the downtown bar scene.

Hughes said Rotelli is an establishment for families -- a place to eat and "have a glass of wine or a martini" downtown.

"We want to keep it as close to a family restaurant as possible," said council member Elizabeth Goreham.

Council agreed that the Rotelli restaurant needs to keep its food sales at 75 percent with alcohol sales at 25 percent of the restaurant's total revenue for each liquor license renewal period of two years as a condition for the transfer.

Once council's recommendations are completely agreed upon, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board will then have to agree to the conditions and make them requirements of Rotelli's liquor license.

If the restaurant fails to meet the requirements, the license will be revoked, said borough manager Tom Fountaine.

Council plans to continue discussion at Monday's meeting.