Executive summary:
The Council is being asked to consider whether to approve a further extension of the mandatory removal date (currently January 20th) for all temporary restaurant parklets, and whether previously removed parklets should be allowed to be reconstructed. This extension can be considered under the City’s active Proclamation of the Existence of a Local Emergency.
Discussion:
On November 2nd, 2021, the City Council considered whether to extend the mandatory removal date of November 12th for all temporary restaurant parklets and outdoor seating for wine tasting shops. Council also considered the imposition of a monthly rental fee for the use of individual parking spaces. Ultimately, the Council acted to extend the mandatory removal date for restaurant parklets by a little over 68-days to January 20th, 2022, and require an $842 per month parking space rental fee for any restaurant choosing to keep their parklet during that period (pro-rated for the additional 8-days in January). This decision also included direction to staff that outdoor seating for wine tasting shops could continue until such a time that the Proclamation of the Existence of a Local Emergency was rescinded. Wine tasting shops, and any restaurant who had previously removed their parklet were not allowed to rebuild at the time.
At the time of the November 2nd City Council meeting, there were 26 restaurant parklets remaining in the Village. Since then one (1) restaurant has opted to remove their parklet, so there are 25 remaining, all of which have paid their rental fee to the City on time.
As part of the direction received to extend the mandatory removal date, staff was asked to bring this item back to the regular meeting on January 4th so that the Council could consider whether or not to approve another extension. With this in mind, staff is seeking the following direction from Council:
- Should the mandatory restaurant parklet removal date of January 20th, 2022 be extended? If yes:
- How long should the extension be?
- If restaurants with previously approved parklets have since removed them, should they be allowed to apply and re-construct those parklets in the right-of-way?
In addition to whether or not to extend the removal date for parklets, Council could also provide direction to staff on the timing of bringing recommendations from the Outdoor Seating Ad hoc Committee to the Planning Commission. Currently, staff is slated to bring this item to the Planning Commission in the early months of 2022.