In Support of an Inclusive and Equitable Outdoor Dining Program:

Petition Text:

We are calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City Council to create a permanent, inclusive, and equitable sidewalk and roadside outdoor dining program that is fairly enforced and guided by comprehensive design standards and best practices. Outdoor set-ups are a community asset and should accommodate all users of the sidewalk. Outdoor dining supports local economies, walkable communities, and better quality of life. Business owners have shown the benefit of this program, and the government ought to support the resilience of communities by making this program permanent.

Background Information:

The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of City Planning (DCP) are proposing a citywide zoning text amendment that will allow the DOT to administer the Permanent Open Restaurant program. The proposal will remove sidewalk café regulations from the Zoning Resolution to increase geography eligibility as sidewalk cafes will become part of a unified sidewalk and roadway outdoor dining program administered at DOT.

A new program is expected to be created within DOT that will unify both sidewalk and street side dining under one agency. The current program, in effect by emergency order, is expected to last through Winter of 2022. 11,500 restaurants have participated in the current program, including 5,920 restaurants outside of Manhattan, and about 2,500 of which would not have qualified or been eligible for outdoor dining before the current iteration.

Three main actions are required to maintain this program permanently, which should be completed by the end of 2022:

1.     Zoning text amendment: Removal of Locational Prohibitions

a.     The proposed zoning changes “entered the city’s public review process on June 21, 2021, and are currently being reviewed by the local community boards (CB), borough presidents, and borough boards”

2.     Changes to program via local law and CAPA (Public engagement rules making process)

a.     Transfer control of sidewalk cafes from DCWP to DOT

b.     Update design requirements

c.     Create new clear path requirements

3.     Creation of a roadside dining program via local law and CAPA

Applications to participate in the new DOT outdoor dining program are expected to be released around Fall of 2022.

Hear from some Brooklyn restaurants on how outdoor dining saved jobs and their businesses: Click HERE