SAVANNAH, Ga. () – The City of Savannah received backlash from business owners at Wednesday’s public feedback meeting, after releasing a 90-day walking tour pilot.

The pilot, starting Feb. 1 will restrict all walking tours south of Liberty Street starting at 10 p.m. and all other tours will have a 1 a.m. cut off.

Brigid Pitts, owner of The Witching Hour Paranormal Ghost Tour, attended all three public feedback meetings and said this will ultimately hurt business.

“Most of us are really, truly struggling, like we’re not making, you know, $500,000 a year,” Pitts said.

Pitts and Dylan Jones both agree that the new regulation is problematic.

“I was quite confused because Savannah is a city that is built on tourism for its haunted reputation,” Jones said. “So, to curtail tours by 10:00 is going to spoil the hundreds of thousands of visitors that purposely come to Savannah each year to seek out our ghost stories.”

News 3 is told Wednesday’s meeting was by far the most heated after business owners got the impression that the pilot would be paused from a previous meeting held on Monday.

The city has decided to continue with the pilot.

“Temperatures are pretty high because it’s their livelihood,” Alderman Detric Leggett of District 1 said. “I understand that. But, at the same time, when we were given this pilot, it was a pilot that not only spoke to the industry, but it spoke to the quality of life for the people that live within this area.

With these adjustments, the city said folks that live south of liberty street should get some relief from noise, crowds, and blocked sidewalks.

“The issue that I face with this is it’s not necessarily the tours that are going to be the bigger problems,” Pitts said. “It’s going to be whether you have people coming in trying to have a good time. How are you going to separate the two if you have a bachelorette or bachelor party going around having a good time or just regular people that are in a flock, a group,  and then you also have a tour company,  where does that fine line end?”

During the duration of the pilot, businesses must follow the rules or they will be fined. Some people at the meeting voiced that they will not follow the rules as a sign of protest.

City officials said they will continue to work with its citizens along with business owners to make sure there is a balance.