County Council last night approved several changes to the county's smoking ban, including a provision that would allow people to smoke inside some neighborhood bars.

Smoking also will be allowed at some functions run by volunteer organizations, provided children are not present.

In a 9-5 vote, council members decided to allow smoking in taverns where food sales account for 10 percent or less of revenues and that have fewer than 10 employees, but added the caveat that minors would not be permitted on the premises. The exemption will expire Jan. 1, 2009, at which point those establishments would also have to become smoke-free.

Cynthia Renshaw, manager of the Inn-Termission Lounge on the South Side, called the restriction "a devastating loss."

"It will be devastating for every small bar I can think of," she said. But if smoking wasn't allowed at all, "that would be even worse."

Now, her establishment could be eligible for a waiver under what some have called the "10-10 rule," but she has plans to hire more people and to start serving more food.

"I'm going to go ahead and open the kitchen, see how it plays," Ms. Renshaw said. "But I know I'm going to lose a lot of business."

Other business owners noted after the meeting that it could take six months or longer for a system to be put in place to get waivers, which means that many establishments might have to go smoke-free when the law goes into effect in early January.

Council last night also granted an exemption to volunteer organizations that hold fund-raising events, as long as no children are there.

"But they cannot have children" at the events, Mr. Fitzgerald said. "If any minors are present, then the smoking ban is in place."

Smoking will not be permitted within 15 feet of entrances to health care facilities. Hospitals can choose to extend that distance or ban smoking campus-wide, which is what would have happened under the original law.

"We had a great ordinance and they're just sort of chipping away at it," said Cindy Thomas, executive director of Tobacco Free Allegheny.

But it's a good measure overall, she added, and her agency will be sponsoring a symposium to help the business community understand what the new law will mean and to provide assistance as workplace policies are developed.

Council sent back to committee a proposal to drop a provision that would prohibit smoking within 15 feet of entrances to smoke-free buildings.

While council members didn't want to take the chance that people might have to walk through clouds of tobacco smoke to go through a doorway, they could not agree on wording that would demarcate a smoke-free zone.

Still, "this thing is 99.9 percent done," said council President Rich Fitzgerald. "While we may disagree on the fine points, in the end we have protected the health of the vast, vast majority of people in Allegheny County. The whole council should be proud of doing that."

Council decided that health and economic impact studies will be conducted 18 to 24 months after the ban's implementation.