Drinking hours at Calumet City bars, restaurants and taverns are about to become shorter after a change to the city's alcohol ordinance last week.

After coming out of closed session, the Calumet City Council approved an amendment which rolls back the hours specified on the liquor licenses issued to bars, restaurants and liquor stores.

The amendment resets the hours of the liquor licenses depending on the kind of license, 5th Ward Alderman Gerald Tarka said after Thursday's special meeting.

"Calumet City is unique. We still have a lot of taverns in the neighborhoods," he said. "I think the residents that live close to a bar that currently is able to be open until 3 a.m. in the morning will be rather pleased. That's a no-brainer."

As of Tuesday, the Calumet City clerk's and mayor's offices said they did not have a copy of the amended ordinance, and thus could not provide a copy to The Times.

The amended ordinance will require all bars to close by 2 a.m. as of July 1, 6th Ward Alderman Nick Manousopoulos said

As of Jan. 1, establishments with Class B licenses will close at midnight and those with Class E licenses will continue to close at 2 a.m., Manousopoulos said.

Currently, Class B and Class E licenses allow bars and taverns to stay open as late as 3 a.m. on certain days of the week.

The city has issued 37 Class B licenses and 15 Class E licenses, according to Calumet City's municipal code, posted on its Web site.

"This will have a major impact on the residential bars, but a survey taken by the mayor's office showed that most of the places closed at midnight anyway or before, Calumet City Attorney Burt Odelson said.

Manousopoulos, whose family owns two liquor licenses, abstained from voting on the new ordinance but would have voted for the change.

"I didn't want the heat to come down, are you doing this for personal reasons," he said. "Most of the B licenses are in residential neighborhoods, and we've had more than our share of complaints from the residents."

One bar on Burnham Avenue in particular has caused complaints from older residents, Tarka said.

"Whatever kind of music they were playing there, things were rattling off of people's shelves," he said. "A reduction in hours will serve everybody a little more peace and quiet in the AMs."

The earlier times will put Calumet City in line with trends in similar communities with a high number of liquor establishments in or near residential neighborhoods, 4th Ward Alderman Brian Wilson said.

The new times will provide nearby homeowners "a little relief as far as noise reduction and loud noise when an establishment is letting out," he said.

"We think it will be good for everybody," Wilson said. "We don't think it will be a huge burden on the bar owners as well, because shutting down one hour early for most of them it won't take away too much of their business.

"People will probably just start a little earlier."