Why It Matters
Restaurant owners and diners had been waiting for guidance about what outdoor dining would look like in the future.
The new rules are likely to reduce the current footprint of outdoor dining, which has soared to include more than 12,000 restaurants since early in the pandemic. But it is expected to allow for far more outdoor dining options than were in place before 2020.
Restaurants will be required to have a license from the city to offer outdoor dining and to pay fees based on their location and square footage, with higher fees in Manhattan south of 125th Street.
A spokeswoman for the City Council speaker, Adrienne Adams, said in a statement on Thursday that it was important for the outdoor dining program to be “affordable, equitable and successful” and available in every borough.
Sara Lind, an executive director at Open Plans, a livable streets group, said that she was “relieved and pleased” that the program would become permanent, saying that “New York City’s outdoor dining culture has quickly become a fixture of modern city life. ” But she lamented that outdoor dining in roadways would not be available during the winter.
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During the height of the pandemic, the city allowed restaurants to open dining sheds in the streets under an emergency order.
Outdoor dining flourished, and many New Yorkers have come to prefer dining al fresco for the atmosphere and as a precaution to avoid getting Covid-19. But the quality of the structures has varied, and some residents have complained bitterly over the loss of parking spots.
The Transportation Department will oversee the permanent outdoor dining program. Restaurants will be allowed to offer outdoor dining from 10 am till midnight, according to the bill.
Sidewalk cafes are regulated separately from roadway cafes. City officials are hoping to expand sidewalk cafes, which were mostly located in Manhattan before the pandemic, and to lower the fees restaurants that operate them have to pay.
What’s Next
The City Council is expected to vote on the bill in June.