They took the plunge, but they didn't take the plunger.

A new Bismarck business has been temporarily shut down because, among other reasons, it didn't have adequate toilet facilities.

Chicago businessmen Nick Stellato and Jim Kulackoski recently expanded their coffee shop chain to downtown Bismarck. Cyberia Internet Cafe opened Friday at 405 E. Broadway Ave., in the Cowan Building.

Due to some confusion involving restrooms, however, the cafe temporarily closed Wednesday. The step was voluntary, and Cyberia plans to reopen when it gets everything worked out.

Bismarck Building Inspector Bill Augustadt said the coffee shop didn't have adequate customer access to restrooms. Because it was classified as a restaurant, Augustadt said, Cyberia needed to provide access to two "toilet rooms." Due to the age of the building, there was some leeway in requiring the facilities to be handicap accessible.

Augustadt said about the only way to meet the requirement would be for Cyberia to provide access to restrooms on the building's second floor. The coffee shop is located on the ground floor.

Also, Augustadt said, the owners didn't have a building permit when they moved into their downtown location. You need to have one, he said, when there's a change in a facility's use or there's remodeling. In this instance, there was both. The location formerly was the home of Bismarck Optical.

The owners posted a message on the cafe's Web site that chastises the city for making it hard to do business here. The message said the cafe owners plan to comply with the law, and thanks patrons for their business and support.

"As people born (and) raised here, we couldn't wait to come home with our business and bring several new jobs, new tax revenue, technology (and) help revive the old downtown area," the note said. "(B)ut the health department (and) building inspectors' offices have forced us to close until we can construct these bathrooms to comply with the local code.

"The idea that Bismarck (and) North Dakota encourages small business out of one side of its mouth (and) bullies you into not opening one out of the other is typical of the 'big city' politics that we face in Chicago."

Mel Fischer, administrator of Bismarck's environmental health division, said the city is trying to work with Cyberia's owners to find a way to accommodate the business and the law.

Cyberia is a full-service coffee house that also provides Internet service and other computer-related services. It has computer workstations available, as well as wireless Internet and ethernet connections.

The owners called the Tribune on Thursday, but a return phone call to them for comment was not immediately returned.

(Reach Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tspilde@ndonline.com.)