Silver Spring residents have been quite worried over the prospect of a new restaurant with late night hours opening in a problematic location. And their opposition was so vocal, in fact, that the restaurateurs realized they would have to agree to closing earlier on the weekends if they were going to get a beer and wine license.

Today the Montgomery County Board of License Commissioners did grant Walter and Daysi Gil a license to sell beer and wine at Gil’s Restaurant at 8200 Piney Branch Road, only after the couple agreed to close at 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends.

The original proposal called for a 1 a.m. closing time on weekends and three pool tables, which sounded some serious red alarms for residents and commissioners alike. Rio Lempa operated for years from that location, during which it received numerous citations and complaints over noise, crime, and public drunkenness.

The Gils came back to today's hearing armed with a different proposal: they nixed the pool tables and were now just asking for a license to sell beer and wine, not liquor.

"We agree that there are always potential problems, especially near a residential neighborhood," said the Gils' attorney, Jonathan Bloom. "But they want to prove to the community and prove to the board here that it will be a beneficial establishment to the community."

Six residents who had showed up to testify against the restaurant getting a license still weren't satisfied, saying that what they wanted in the area was a family restaurant, not a bar. And to accomplish that goal, the restaurant would have to close at 11 p.m.

"We have small children, this is a family atmosphere, and we've had a lot to contend with already. We don't need another struggle," said resident Bithian Reed. "I think if they go forward with the plan they have in place, yes, it's pretty clear to me what folks are going to want to buy on the weekends. We've been through an awful lot in this neighborhood with similar establishments and similar struggles."

It was becoming quite clear that unless the owners agreed to change their weekend closing time to 11 p.m., they weren't going to get any license at all. So Bloom finally said they would close at 11 p.m. on the weekends and a change in business hours would have to be approved by the board.

"There's been so many problems in the neighborhood in the past," Commissioner Dee Metz told the applicants. "You haven't been here for the past couple of years, but we've had a lot of problems."

Resident Coletta Youngers, for one, was pleased with the outcome.

"I'll go eat there when they open up," she said.

Youngers said she and other neighbors do want to support neighborhood restaurants, which is a good thing for Gil's considering it now faces competition from two other Salvadoran restaurants in the same shopping center.