May 11—EAU CLAIRE — The downtown Eau Claire businesses at risk of not getting their liquor licenses renewed got two more weeks to convince the city they should be allowed to keep them.

Assistant City Attorney Jenessa Stromberger suggested Tuesday that the City Council delay action on those licenses to allow further talks with the businesses.

"We are asking you postpone both of these items to the May 24th City Council meeting," she said.

That delay was sought after Stromberger said she had a good meeting on Tuesday with owners of pizzeria The Plus, wine bar The Rev and live entertainment venue The Metro — the three businesses in jeopardy of not getting their licenses renewed this summer.

The council voted 9-0 — council President Terry Weld and Councilman Jeremy Gragert were absent — to grant that extra time.

The city attorney's office had recommended not renewing the licenses as the businesses had not reopened since early 2020. The Metro, 201 E. Lake St., suffered a kitchen fire in February 2020. Both The Plus and The Rev, 208 and 204 S. Barstow St., closed in March 2020 when COVID-19 began and only the latter has reopened so far with limited hours.

The city did give latitude to restaurants and bars with liquor licenses that had prolonged closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is now getting stricter about enforcing a 90-day limit of inactivity for such businesses to keep their licenses.

Benny Haas, who operates all three businesses, has asked the city for more time for him to complete renovations at both The Metro and The Plus.

He's also contended that The Rev, though its only been open Monday mornings and during some special events, has been open enough to meet the 90-day requirement to keep the license. And The Rev shares its license with the neighboring The Plus.

Haas' businesses currently have two of the limited quantity of regular Combination Class B alcohol licenses the city is allowed to issue. Eau Claire has no regular licenses to issue right now for new businesses. The city does have four reserve Combination Class B licenses available, but they carry a much higher up-front cost than the regular ones.

Other business

Also during Tuesday's council meeting:

—About 160 acres of farmland on the west side of Highway T that is the future site of music festival Country Jam USA was annexed into Eau Claire from the neighboring town of Wheaton due to a unanimous vote of the council.

—The city's plan for using nearly $850,000 it will get from the federal government this year through the Community Development Block Grant and HOME programs were approved in a 9-0 vote.

—Expanding the city's plan for providing sewer service around 220 acres on the north side of Deerfield Road currently in the town of Washington was approved unanimously. This vote was a prelude to a decision the council is scheduled to make on May 24 about whether vacant land, which is slated for a housing development opposed by numerous neighbors, should be annexed into the city.

—Eau Claire's local room tax ordinance was updated to fit state laws passed in 2019 and 2021 that are used to collect revenues on overnight stays booked through websites including Airbnb and Expedia. During the first quarter of this year, the city received about $20,000 in room tax revenue from stays booked through online marketplace providers.