San Antonio officials looking to maintain balance on the River Walk have found a number to help them meet their goal -- nine.
Under a proposal drafted by the city attorney, restaurants with nine or more identical establishments would be banned from the famed tourist destination, with a few exceptions. The ordinance would make San Antonio the second of the country's 10 largest cities to enact such a restriction.
But it wouldn't necessarily keep companies such as Landry's Restaurants Inc. -- the Houston company city officials say spurred the proposal's creation -- off the river.
"We can't make it owner-driven," City Attorney Michael Bernard said, explaining that banning a specific company would violate laws governing interstate commerce.
In other words, the city isn't trying to keep away specific corporations, but chain restaurants owned by those corporations.
The city plans to keep chains in check by limiting what it calls formula restaurants -- those that share characteristics such as names, menus, staff uniforms and signs with at least nine others. San Antonio settled on nine for its definition because of a California court case upholding similar legislation, Bernard said, adding that the number could change before the measure comes up for a vote.
Formula restaurants would be banned from the densely populated horseshoe section of the river unless they are replacing other chain restaurants closed in the previous year. They also would be prohibited from occupying more than 4,000 square feet of dining space on a single level and be required to locate at least 500 feet away from the nearest chain restaurant. The rules would not apply to restaurants already on the river.
Landry's, which has three restaurants -- Joe's Crab Shack, Landry's Seafood House and Rainforest Café -- on the River Walk, is against the city's proposal.
"While we strongly support the effort to ensure that the River Walk remains distinctive and authentic, we believe that effectively discriminating against certain potential business tenants will end up impeding, not encouraging, this cause," Landry's Chief Executive Tilman Fertitta said in a written statement.
But as long as the Saltgrass Steakhouse his company is planning for the River Walk's historic Casino Club is operating before the city approves the changes, it would be allowed.
The company also could open new restaurants on the river as long as they had fewer than nine similar locations. For example, Landry's high-end Vic & Anthony's steakhouse, which has only two other locations, could open anywhere on the river.
Parker Scott, president of the Paseo del Rio Association, a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting and preserving the River Walk, isn't sure San Antonio needs the restrictions.
"There hasn't been this explosion of formula restaurants on the river," he said, saying a net two new formula restaurants had joined the River Walk since 2000. "A lot of us kind of wonder in the back of our mind if somebody's not just pointing the gun at Landry's."
There are other potential problems. The measure might discourage investors or punish successful restaurateurs, including those that are locally based. "Look at Grady's Bar-B-Q," Scott said, "They're local, but if they had one or two more stores they couldn't locate on the river."
San Antonio's proposed ordinance, a draft of which is online at www.sanantonio.gov, is based on rules in place in other cities, mostly on the East and West coasts.
San Francisco, the only other major metropolitan area with similar legislation, prohibits formula retailers with 11 or more locations from one neighborhood and forces them to be part of a neighborhood review process in others.
San Antonio native and local restaurateur Lisa Wong thinks similar restrictions will help the River Walk maintain a unique ambience. "There's a cultural feel you can only get along the River Walk," she said. "This is an issue worth fighting for."
Leisa Stilley, a Missouri resident here for a convention, just wants to be able to visit both chains and independents the next time she's in San Antonio. "You need at least a couple of chains for people to feel comfortable," she said. "You want to venture out and try something new, but sometimes you just want a good, old cheeseburger."
Among the restaurants she visited during her week on the River Walk -- Chili's.
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