MONROE — There’s a noticeable change downtown on top of all of the work going on around the courthouse structure.

Baumgartner Cheese Store and Tavern recently opened an outdoor dining deck in front of the establishment on the square. Now diners can watch the renovation work across the street from underneath an umbrella in the warm summer air. 

Baumgartner’s received a city permit for the structure. And while there’s plenty of support for the move among al fresco dining enthusiasts and others who want to see more people and traffic downtown, it isn’t without controversy. 

“All I received were complaints, all last week,” said Ald. Andrew Kranig, speaking at the last city council meeting held June 6, during which the issue was raised. 

But the alderman who raised the issue, Ald. Richard Thoman, said he has received comments from Monroe residents — both pro and con on the idea.

“I kinda’ like it myself,” he said. “Most of the complaints are about parking spots.”

Indeed, the wooden deck, while modest in size does take up about three regular parking stalls right in front of the popular bar/eatery and tourist spot. Parking has always been an issue downtown — especially directly on the square — more so since the city’s only multi-level parking deck was demolished in 2017. There are currently about 250 parking stalls on the square, with approximately two dozen designated for handicapped parking. The Baumgartner’s deck takes up about three full stalls, and part of another or less than 2% of available parking spaces directly on the square.

“If everybody else can do it, are we going to shut down the whole downtown square? Because we won’t have any parking,’” Kranig said, adding that he has received more than a dozen or so calls against the measure. 

Baumgartner’s owner, Chris Soukop is on vacation this week and was unavailable for comment, according to employees there. But he issued a number of detailed social media posts responding to critics of the recently opened deck. He pointed out that any business downtown can apply for the permit for such a structure, a sentiment echoed by city council members during their discussion of the issue.

“The Monroe city council approved the use of (‘streeteries’) almost two years ago for any dining establishment that wants to build one,” the lengthy post said. “You are allowed to use the parking spaces directly in front of your building, and any neighboring property that consents to it. Our neighbors consented and we happen to own the building all the way to the corner.”

He continued: “The more people we draw downtown the better.”

Though all the alderman who spoke said they aren’t against the project, they wanted the criticisms to be known and addressed eventually. Once such criticism is safety, with traffic so near diners, something Soukup also addressed.

“Our structure sticks out less than the (parked) cars do, so it’s actually easier to pass by for other vehicles, including emergency vehicles,” he wrote. “It’s also built in a way that is see through, so it actually improves visibility from the corner entering the square versus cars being parked there.”

Most commenters on the post praised the idea, and one mentioned that Galena — another favorite tourist destination in Illinois — closed its entire main street to allow more outdoor dining. Still other cities including Chicago, also did the same thing, if only temporarily during the COVID-19 restrictions on indoor seating.

“Didn’t know you can take up parking spaces to do that,” said one commenter. “Hard enough to park on the square.”

But Ald. Brooke Bauman addressed the issue in a social media post of her own, and mentioned that another business was interested in a more elevated form of outdoor dining downtown.

“A downtown establishment did come to the city council proposing a rooftop addition to their business,” Bauman said. “Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, it is not in place at this time…hopefully in the future though I thought it would have been a super cool space.”

For his part, Ald. Josh Binger said he’d actually like to so more “streeteries” or similar features downtown on the square.

“If anything, I hope additional businesses apply for the permit,” he said. “All the better to get people downtown.”