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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In Kansas City, Missouri, pups are not allowed on patios due to a health ordinance, but that may change. 4th district city councilperson Jolie Justus is working to open the gate to let dogs in.

The Grandfalloon Bar & Restaurant on The Plaza isn’t turning dogs away, but they have to be outside their patio fence. With an updated ordinance it could get dogs back under their tables.

Their owner, Tim Caniglia, put up a sign telling patrons they could no longer allow dogs on the patio due to health department rules. Caniglia says the sign is not a popular one.

“We’ve had a lot of customers upset, because we were dog-friendly, and they brought their dogs here. We’ve never had any issues with dogs on the patio,” Caniglia said.

Over the past few weeks complaints at a number of restaurants caused the health department of follow up which made some of them ask dogs to stay at home.

“We’re going to fix that, so we leave it up to restaurants,” said Justus.

Justus didn’t realize the ordinance barring dogs existed, and she wants to make it businesses can make the decision for themselves.

“Frankly, most of Kansas City agrees, with regulations and rules, you should be able to take your dog to a patio in Kansas City,” Justus said.

She wants to redraft the ordinance and take it to the city council for a vote.

“On the state level, there already is a law that allows for this. So, there’s no barrier at the state level,” Justus said. “Rather than eliminating all dogs on patios, what I’m excited about, is addressing any problems that their might be, but leaving it up to the private sector to decide how they want to do things.”

Which is something Caniglia things is a positive option.

“People that aren’t dog friendly they can decide what place to go to,” Caniglia said. “If they know there’s a place that`s not going to have dogs then they’ll go to that place. It kinda is up to everybody. I think that makes everybody happy, and then people know if you’re dog friendly or not.”

“For folks who love having their four legged family members with them – we’re working on it, and the city council hears you, and we’re going to work hard to make sure we get some sort of ordinance out there that accommodates everybody,” Justus said.

A draft of the ordinance will need to be finalized and then go through a process of approvals and hearings. Justus said all together it should take around three months, but could go longer.

Caniglia says if the ordinance passes The Granfalloon will go back to being a dog-friendly business.