Overview

• Council Member Lincoln Restler introduced legislation to bring back year-round roadway dining and simplify permitting for restaurants.
• The proposal adds snow-removal and sanitation requirements, lets smaller eateries extend into space by adjacent businesses with consent, allows grocery and specialty food stores to participate, and permits setups as close as eight feet from intersections.
• Under current rules, roadway setups must be removed for winter with a Nov. 30 cutoff, a shift that advocates say helped drive participation down to about 1,400 roadway applications this year.
• Gothamist reported that as of March fewer than 2,000 establishments were approved for outdoor dining of any type under the revamped program.
• The bill has multiple Council co-sponsors and support from advocacy group Open Plans, while the Adams administration criticized the Council’s handling of the program but said it will review the legislation.