Montgomery County delegates voted to suspend the rules of when local bills are filed to allow for a public hearing on whether Theo's restaurant in the Rockshire Village Shopping Center on Wootton Parkway should be able to apply for a liquor license.

The hearing is set for 9 a.m. Friday at the Montgomery County delegation room in the Lowe Office Building in Annapolis.

The restaurant is too close to the Korean Presbyterian Church to apply for a license, because state law prohibits such licenses within 300 feet of religious institutions.

Owner Andria Kyriakides said she knew she was not eligible to apply for a license when she and her sister and co-owner, Rosa Martinos, leased the space. They had hoped to do enough business that the license would not matter, but it has, Kyriakides said in a recent interview.

Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville filed a late bill that would allow church leaders to waive the distance requirement. Doing so would allow Kyriakides' restaurant to apply for a liquor license.

Church leaders at the Korean Presbyterian Church do not oppose Theo's having a liquor license, they have said.

Simmons' bill would have to be approved by the Montgomery delegates before heading to the Senate side for approval. If the local senators favor it, the bill then would be introduced to the full assembly and assigned to the Ways and Means committee, where liquor license bills are handled.