The dog-loving customers of a local Peaberry Coffee shop would be allowed to bring their pooches back to the patio if health officials exempt the eatery from a regulation banning animals.
Denver lawyer Bill O’Rourke, on behalf of the Cherry Creek North shop, filed a petition with the Board of Environmental Health last month claiming the exclusion of four-legged friends has hurt business.
“Peaberry Coffee … operates on a relatively slim profit margin and has no ability to absorb any significant loss of its regular customer base due to the enforcement of the regulation,” the petition said. “Many of these patrons walk their dogs in the neighborhood and routinely enjoy a beverage with their dogs on the Peaberry’s patio.”
In response, the Denver Department of Environmental Health will let the shop take its case to the Board of Environmental Health on Sept. 13.
Denver regulations state only service animals are allowed at indoor and outdoor dining areas.
The meeting was pushed back to Sept. 13 so the city can research possibilities for a variance or a rule change, said department spokeswoman Ellen Dumm.
“We would rather have a rule change,” she said. “That would allow restaurants that are interested in doing it to pursue it.”
But not everyone would be happy to see dogs return.
“I’m certainly more comfortable with the current state of affairs, and I don’t think Peaberry should be given the exception, because it would set a bad precedent,” orthodontist Fred Siersma said Wednesday while eating his lunch outside a Starbucks two blocks away from Peaberry.
After Peaberry and others were cited, but not fined, in June for allowing dogs, they put up signs asking people to leave their pets at home. Upset pet owners howled.
Councilwoman Jeanne Robb’s office has received dozens of calls about the regulation. On Friday she asked constituents via her weekly newsletter if they would support a variance for restaurant patios where food is carried out by the diners, not the wait staff. Dogs won, 22 to 4.
Robb, Dumm and others said they worry that the majority of the commentary is coming from dog owners, and not the establishments.
It’s also important to make sure any changes don’t affect other departments or conflict with state law, Dumm said.
Laurie Pensack said she’d be delighted to be able to bring her bichon frisé back to Peaberry.
“Everybody I know … thinks that this law is just ridiculous,” Pensack said. “People with and without pets don’t understand it.”
Staff writer Sara Crocker can be reached at 303-954-1661 or scrocker@denverpost.com.
