A cluster of bars is a convenience to some, but a nuisance to others. Pittsburgh Councilman Jeff Koch sided with the latter group yesterday, unveiling legislation to keep new establishments from joining existing huddles of bars.

Mr. Koch's proposed ordinance would keep liquor licensees, including restaurants, from opening within 150 feet of two or more existing licensees in neighborhood business districts.

The ordinance also would force those seeking to open new drinking establishments in areas zoned for neighborhood businesses, general industrial uses, and medical and institutional facilities to go before the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment. They would have to show that their patrons won't take residents' parking spaces, and demonstrate that they won't have a detrimental impact on nearby properties.

He said he was motivated by the situation on the South Side Flats, which hosts 89 establishments with liquor licenses, according to the state Liquor Control Board. Business and residential leaders have complained that the stream of new bars is making it more difficult to park, crowding the sidewalks with drunks, and leading to public urination and vomiting.

"We're taking a district that was preserved as historic and turning it into a bar crawl," said Nick Kefal, a retired Flats resident and member of the South Side Community Council Bar Task Force.

"This isn't going to change the way they do their business down there," Mr. Koch said. "It just says they're at their peak, and there needs to be balance, and we're at balance now."

He showed a map of South Side bars that suggested that the legislation would make it nearly impossible to open another bar on East Carson Street between 8th and 24th streets.

Mr. Koch said he set out to write legislation specific to the historic part of the South Side Flats, but was encouraged by the city Law Department to broaden it. As a result the legislation, which could come up for discussion in council next Wednesday, has citywide impact.

It could face opposition from some expansion-minded restaurateurs.

"To have that as your parameter, that you can't have [a new establishment] within 150 feet of another two places, is rather absurd," said Tom Baron, president of the Big Burrito Restaurant Group, with six city locations. "Just because you're a restaurant with a liquor license doesn't mean you're bringing blight upon the neighborhood."

Several neighborhood leaders outside of the South Side said they don't face Carson Street's problems, but don't object to the legislation.

"We haven't had to beat down anyone who is trying to open a bar," said Janet Cercone-Scullion, president of the Bloomfield Citizens Council. "In neighborhoods where every other place is a bar, I can see where this [legislation] would be useful."