Last updated on July 21st, 2023 at 12:04 am
Outdoor dining started as an emergency measure to help restaurants struggling to make it through the shut down during the Covid Pandemic. After two years of negotiations, NY City Council introduced new legislation that could make outdoor dining a permanent part of New York City.
THE NEW BILL
The new City Council bill introduced earlier this week would allow year-round outdoor dining for restaurants that have sidewalk capacity with seating on sidewalks only. For restaurants that offer outdoor dining in structures/sheds on city streets, the bill proposes that the city create a licensing structure that would allow outdoor dining structures seasonally, from April through November.
THE BREAKDOWN
For restaurants with sidewalk cafés & roadway “streeteries”/dining sheds, the new permanent outdoor dining program:
- would allow dining sheds and roadway streeteries to continue from 10 a.m. – midnight, from April through November,
- would require restaurants to have a license from the city to participate in outdoor dining,
- will include a licensing process that is faster, less expensive, and less complicated,
- will require that dining sheds be taken down in the off season,
- will now be legally available to restaurants in all neighborhoods across the five boroughs,
- does not address specific design guidelines for outdoor dining structures, which will be decided later.
- will not allow outdoor dining between the hours of 12am – 10 a.m., nor between Dec. 1 and March 31.
For restaurants that have sidewalk capacity, where seating is not located inside dining sheds on the street, the new permanent outdoor dining program would allow outdoor dining year-round.
The legislation does have the support of Mayor Eric Adams and is expected to be voted on by the Council in June.
