For those who like to dine al fresco or who still have concerns about COVID-19 and dining indoors, the City Council is poised to consider a temporary zoning amendment this week that would give downtown restaurants some post-pandemic relief.
The council’s Planning and Development Committee last Wednesday voted 3-0 for a proposed temporary zoning change to allow outdoor dining from July 1 through Oct. 10. The full council is scheduled to hold a remote public hearing on the proposal on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Council President Valerie Gilman, who sits on that committee, initiated the proposed order. She had attended a Planning Board meeting on June 2 where she presented it, she said.
Gilman said the Planning Board had made several conditions that included applicants serve lunch and dinner, the closing date of the program should change from Dec. 1 to Oct. 10, that restaurants would be required to compensate the city for parking spaces taken for outdoor seating, and that the parking spaces taken by seating “are limited per restaurant in some capacity, such that the total spaces used for outdoor seating is less of an impact on the total number of spaces available to retailers.”
The council committee then recommended a fee of $100 per month per parking space “or as specified by Administration on the day of public hearing,” and the elimination of the requirement restaurants must have lunch service, while agreeing the outdoor dining program should end Oct. 10.
Gilman, summarizing the recent Planning Board meeting, said the city’s building inspector, Bill Sanborn, was also there in a discussion that lasted an hour.
At an earlier meeting on outdoor dining on May 18, Gilman said it was agreed that if the process were approved, it would be similar to what has been done in the past, with permitting done online, an outdoor seating plan would be required, and the number of outdoor seats could not exceed the occupancy permit.
Tables could be moved from inside to outside, but more tables could not be added, she said. Outside seating areas would also have to be ADA compliant.
Gilman noted there were no restaurant owners who appeared at the public hearing before the Planning Board, although one retailer shared a letter on behalf of several others regarding the fact that Jersey barriers can take up parking spots in front of shops.
Chief Administrative Officer Jill Cahill, asked for the administration’s take on it, said the majority of people they have heard from are for it.
“At the administration level, we only heard from one restaurant, and that was Tonno (2 Main St.), and that was earlier on,” Cahill said, adding that Mayor Greg Verga is not against the idea. “He wants to make sure it’s the best thing for economic development and for Main Street as a whole.”
“We are here to operationalize it if you put it forward,” she said. As far as parking revenues are concerned, she said, the city could create a permit fee, but she did not have a number in mind. “I would support a small fee but I wouldn’t want it to be excessive in any way.”
Cahill also noted that barriers that were used in the past to carve out spaces for outdoor dining are being used by the upcoming St. Peter’s Fiesta.
“We didn’t have Fiesta when we had outdoor dining so the program wouldn’t start until July 1 at the earliest,” Cahill said.
Ward 2 Councilor Tracy O’Neil, who represents much of the downtown, said she thought it was a good idea to let restaurants have outdoor dining. She suggested retailers might be able to stay open later than 5 p.m. to capture some business from diners.
“The more people who come to eat at our restaurants, the more people who will stop in at a retail shop if it’s open,” she said.
Gilman said there were six or seven restaurants she knew of that were interested but there were also some conversations about consolidating and sharing outdoor spaces for restaurants when it came to seating areas, to lessen the impact on retailers.
She also had some concerns about the Planning Board condition that restaurants needed to serve lunch to have outdoor seating, given how late it is in the season with restaurants having to staff up for that.
“I mean, finding help in the restaurant business right now, dishwashers, ain’t going to happen at this late date,” Gilman said. Restaurants that have different kinds of liquor licenses would make it difficult to consolidate more than one outdoor space into one.
Ethan Forman may be contacted at eforman@northofboston.com.
