Zoning proposal to make outdoor dining permanent heads to City Council today

The summer of 2020 on Seventh Street

Today, the proposal to remake outdoor dining in NYC heads to a full City Council vote. 

Last Thursday, the Council's Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and the Committee on Land Use voted to recommend the approval of a zoning proposal, which is a first step in creating a permanent outdoor dining program. 

City Council will be voting on this same resolution today.

All this follows the Council's lone public hearing on the proposal, a contentious 9-hour marathon featuring 250 people testifying for or against the program on Feb. 8. 

One takeaway from that, per published reports: Julie Schipper, head of the Department of Transportation's Open Restaurants Program, told City Council that the dining structures erected in the summer of 2020 won't be allowed to remain standing under the new guidelines. 

"We don't envision sheds in the permanent program. We are not planning for that," Schipper said. "What would be in the roadway [are] barriers and tents or umbrellas, but not these full houses that you're seeing in the street." 

This CityLand post outlines what needs to happen... 

To establish a permanent open restaurants program, several legislative and administrative changes would need to occur. First, a zoning text amendment that eliminates certain restrictions on where sidewalk cafes can be located needs to be approved. Last November, the City Planning Commission voted to approve this text amendment, and now the amendment needs the approval of the City Council. 

Next, the City Council would need to pass legislation that would repeal the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection’s authority over sidewalk cafes and authorize the Department of Transportation to establish a permanent program. 

Once the City Council approves the program, the Department of Transportation and other relevant agencies would need to establish administrative rules about the program, which would also be subject to a public comment process. 

But, as The Village Sun reported last Friday, the Land Use Committee "voted to 'modify' the bill ... by removing the DOT as the lead agency." 

However, this does not necessarily mean the DOT is out of the picture for good. Basically, moving forward, as part of the process of creating the new law, Velazquez and fellow councilmembers will now be deciding whether D.O.T. should continue to run the program or whether the job should be handed off to another agency. 

This Gothamist piece from Feb. 15 has more on the design of future outdoor spaces. 

City officials have said they hope to have a permanent program to begin in 2023.

As The Sun pointed out: "Basically, a lot is currently in the works and still unsettled."

City Council hosting public hearing on permanent outdoor dining legislation today

Top photo from Washington Square Park Saturday by Jeremiah Moss 

Updated 2/9

Per the Post: Julie Schipper, head of the city Department of Transportation's Open Restaurants Program, told City Council yesterday that the dining structures that popped up in the summer of 2020 won't be allowed to remain standing after the COVID-19 pandemic eases.

"We don't envision sheds in the permanent program. We are not planning for that," she said. "What would be in the roadway [are] barriers and tents or umbrellas, but not these full houses that you're seeing in the street."

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City Council will hold its lone (remote) public hearing today on the city's Open Restaurants program. 

City officials are looking to make then-Mayor Blasio's no-fee emergency measure launched in June 2020 when indoor dining was prohibited a permanent part of the dining landscape. The Department of Transportation (DOT) would oversee the new program with updated policies and procedures for sidewalk and curbside service. (The Open Restaurants text amendment entered a public review last June.)

Per an article on the hearing via the Post:

Under the current proposal, eateries seeking licenses to operate outdoor dining would have to shell out $1,050 each and then pay a $525 renewal fee following a yet-to-be-determined time period. It also sets up various safety measures and other restrictions for the pop-up, al fresco dining spots to follow, including prohibiting use of advertising signage. 

A permanent outdoor dining program drafted by the de Blasio administration was approved by the Planning Commission last November, but it never reached the Council for a vote before the term-limited mayor left office at year's end.

Streetsblog has a comprehensive preview of the hearing at this link.

According to various estimates in media accounts, the city claims about 100,000 jobs were saved through outdoor dining allowances during the pandemic. 

City Council will hold a final vote on the measure at an unspecified date later this year.

Meanwhile, there is opposition to these plans. This past Saturday, the Coalition United for Equitable Urban Policy (CUEUP) — an alliance of neighborhood and block associations, including several in the East Village — held a march and rally called "Chuck the Sheds" in the West Village to speak out against making the Open Restaurants program permanent. 

In the invite for Saturday's rally, the group noted:

Open Restaurants ... serves us noise, mounds of trash, rats, fire hazards, blocked sidewalks. Ambulances and fire trucks can't access our homes from these narrow and cluttered, impassable streets. The problems were there from the beginning for all to see, yet the Mayor and the City Council chose not to look or listen.

And from the group's website:

CUEUP supports our neighborhood restaurants, and wants them to not only survive, but thrive. However, we oppose making permanent the Open Restaurants and Bars program. Policies regarding the future of restaurants also directly impact the lives of residents and small shops, who must be part of the decision-making process. The top-down process that created the permanent program was unjust and undemocratic.

Nearly 100 people, including several local elected officials, such as District 1 City Councilmember Christopher Marte, attended the rally. You can find coverage at the Post ... Village Sun... and Bowery Boogie.

As part of the public review process, the DOT presented its proposed plan to all 59 Community Boards last year. (Find reaction from CB3's meeting from July here.) As Streetsblog pointed out: "The city's zoning dashboard makes it clear that there’s a lot of controversy. About 30 community boards rejected the city’s proposal; about 22 supported it or at least did not oppose it."

Meanwhile, we continue to hear complaints about the abandoned dining structure on Sixth Street at Avenue A. (Previously here and here.) This structure belonged to August Laura, which officially closed in mid-December. Neighbors say the space has become "a 24-hour shooting gallery."

One resident, who filed a complaint on Dec. 23, shared the 311 service request... and is still waiting for the city to do something about the abandoned structure.

In a tweet, the DOT says the structure has been scheduled for removal, though it didn't say when this would happen.

We've had discussions with other residents about the street eateries that belonged to restaurants that either closed or moved away, such as Ahimsa Garden on 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. The Indian restaurant decamped for Midtown East in November. Their former outdoor space remains boarded up on the street... a for rent sign is on the empty storefront...

Residents have asked who is responsible for this now. Should the restaurant have taken this down before moving? Is it the landlord's duty? Or does this fall to the DOT?  

Previously on EV Grieve:

Reports from CB3's public review of the Open Restaurants program

Opinion: The overlooked stakeholders and potential bias in the Open Restaurants program

Today, the Department of City Planning and the Department of Transporation are inviting "key stakeholders" to a virtual presentation on bringing a permanent Open Restaurants program to life.

According to the invite, this is the "key first element of ... an amendment to the Zoning Resolution that will begin a public review in June."

A longtime East Village small business owner, who is not in the food-beverage industry and feels as if other retail establishments have been overlooked in the city's plans, shared some thoughts about the potential impact this might have on a neighborhood and its residents ... consider this a mini op-ed (opposing viewpoints are welcome) ... 

The biggest stakeholders are actually the residents who live above or beside these sheds and must put up with them so that landlords, restaurants and bars can increase their profit margin at the expense of residents' ability to live peaceably in their homes. 

These real stakeholders have been left out of the process at every turn. It creates another tale of two cities whereby those able to move and/or insulate themselves in their high rises or in areas where the COVID sheds don't exist are quite happy with the program while those who do not have that privilege must bear its burden. 

And the same goes for small business and retail diversity; why would a landlord rent to a retail shop when they can rent to a cafe or bar or restaurant that will have the ability to annex additional square footage in the street? More space equals higher rents equals a bias toward renting to businesses in the hospitality industry versus retail shops.

The Open Restaurants initiative came about in June 2020 to allow the hard-hit restaurant industry to open safely with outside seating while indoor dining was prohibited. It became a major lifeline for the restaurant industry during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, in late April, City Council voted (39-8) to make the Open Streets program permanent. 

Community Boards hosting town hall to discuss the Open Restaurants and Open Streets programs

Open Restaurants and Open Streets, two programs the city introduced last year during the pandemic, are the subject of a virtual town hall this Tuesday night.

Community Board 3 and Community Board 6, which serves the east side from 14th Street to 59th Street, are hosting the event... with sponsorship by local City Council members Carlina Rivera and Margaret Chin as well as Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.

Per the invite: "Hear from agencies to clarify regulations and answer your questions to make these programs work better for us." 

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. You may submit questions in advance here.

Details to tune in follow:

Online: https://zoom.us/j/97467588948

By Phone: +1 646 518 9805, +1 929 205 6099

Webinar ID: 974 6758 8948

These East Village streets are now part of the expanded Open Restaurants initiative

[Photo via @astorplacenyc]

As you may have seen, Mayor de Blasio yesterday extended the Open Restaurants program until the end of October, giving NYC restaurants two extra months to serve sidewalk and curbside meals.

Also! The mayor announced that the city was providing a weekend expansion for outdoor dining options — a combo of Open Streets and Open Restaurants.

Per the city's release:

The program expands restaurant seating options onto car-free streets for select corridors throughout the five boroughs. Restaurants on these corridors will go farther away from the curb than other Open Restaurants participants, and the rest of the streets will be open to pedestrian traffic and emergency vehicles. Selected corridors will be operational on Friday from 5-11 P.M., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 11 P.M. The 26 new locations bring the citywide total to 47 participating streets.

And around here, the new street dining — weekends only — will happen on:

• St Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue
• Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street
• Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue
• Bleecker Street between Mott Street and the Bowery

As the top photo shows, the outdoor dining on St. Mark's Place already has branding — Street Feast.