Restaurants end virus rule protest

Two popular Windsor restaurants have ended outdoor dining after briefly defying local and state health regulations meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus, following a warning from state regulators that their alcohol licenses could be revoked.

Owners of the neighboring restaurants on the Windsor Town Green, David Culley of KC’s American Kitchen and JC Adams of KIN, said they knowingly flouted the pandemic restrictions on Dec. 18 and 19, offering outdoor dining about a week after new restrictions went into effect. Each cited frustration with what they described as unjust regulations on restaurants despite the adoption of extensive — and costly — modifications to keep diners safe.

The warnings and closures come at a time when state and county officials have shut or limited a wide swath of businesses to try to tamp down the spread of the virus, which has ballooned in December and swamped hospitals in parts of the state. In Sonoma County, officials have fielded thousands of complaints of potential health order violations, including several involving the operation of an unpermitted restaurant that may have been serving diners indoors for months.

The latest shutdown order includes mandates that local restaurants close all forms of on- site dining, though it also bars nonessential hotel and vacation home stays, closes hair salons and places limits on other types of business.

Retailers and grocery stores are allowed to have customers indoors but must limit the number of people inside.

The restrictions, which are set to expire on Jan. 9, are similar to those imposed across the state in March.

“There’s no way in the world where my restaurant is set up to just do to-gos and be profitable,” said Culley, who laid off more than 30 employees at KC’s after the latest shutdown.

“It’s hypocritical that these other stores are allowed to stay open,” Culley said, calling out “overpacked stores ... people with their masks hanging down below their nose.”

Calls from the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which notified both businesses that failure to comply with the health restrictions could jeopardize their licenses to sell alcohol, and warnings from Windsor Police were enough to convince the restaurateurs to end outdoor dinning after two days.