A year after launching the city's Nightlife Initiative, city officials—including Mayor Mike McGinn, the Seattle City Council, and City Attorney Pete Holmes—are finally ready to lobby the Washington State Liquor Control Board to change a state rule to allow bars to sell alcohol after 2:00 a.m., according to city hall sources. We'll hear details on the plan tomorrow at 11:15 a.m. at a press conference at City Hall, but don't expect the process to be quick. Or easy.

"We're looking at a six month process, at least," said one city hall source. "We have to create the framework for the Liquor Control Board to approve it. And, politically, we have to show we’re building momentum for this policy change."

The framework starts with the city council. On July 19, council members Tim Burgess and Richard Conlin are expected to introduce a joint resolution—through the council's economic development and public safety committees—supporting the city's efforts to extend later bar hours. "We support starting this process," Burgess said today. "I think the mayor’s office has laid out a process that is methodical and careful." Burgess added that the Seattle Police Department also supports "exploring how would we do this so we don’t create a public safety problem."

Assuming the resolution passes, city officials will petition the LCB to amend the rule that prohibits liquor service past 2:00 a.m. "We're basically asking them to set up a process by which a city—Seattle specifically, but this would create a framework for any city—can apply to create an extended hours liquor service area," another city hall source said.

The city doesn't have a new last call in mind at this point. "We're just asking to change the rules so anyone can petition to serve between 2:00 and 6:00." That said, "We're not going through all this trouble to keep bars open to 2:30 a.m. on one corner in Ballard. If this passes, we'll see a significant change in service hours.”

Once the city submits a petition to amend the 2:00 a.m. curfew, the LCB has 60 days to decide whether or not they want to take up the issue. The agency could try to hide behind the governor's moratorium on rule making, "but there’s an exception," explains the source. "It doesn't apply in cases where it's requested by local governments and the small businesses it affects." Which is why it's critical to approach the notoriously conservative LCB with a united front—City officials, nightlife activists, bar owners, Seattle residents, and law enforcement.

If the LCB approved the amendment—a huge victory in and of itself—it wouldn't mean we'd be toasting until the sun rose. First:

1) Seattle would then have to apply to the LCB for permission to create these service areas, and
2) Eligible bars in these service areas would then have to petition the LCB to serve later than 2:00 a.m.

"It’s multi-step, it's incredibly bureaucratic, but it also seems like it’s the best chance we've got," said the source. "We have to create the framework for the regulatory body to approve it."

More details to come tomorrow.