Sidewalk Dining Rules Loosened, Still Called Too Complicated | Eastern North Carolina Now

 Publisher's note: The author of this post is Kari Travis, who is Associate Editor and Social Media Specialist for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

City, restaurant and bar owners each say both sides working constructively on issue

 RALEIGH     Raleigh's city council on Tuesday loosened sidewalk-dining restrictions it imposed in August, but downtown restaurant and bar owners say the regulations still are too complicated and must be simplified.

 The council voted to move outdoor dining curfews back from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. on weekends. Council members also asked city staffers to consider alternatives to maximum capacity rules of 15 square feet per person, and put the city's Appearance Commission in charge of reevaluating the stanchion requirements that currently block patios from public walkways.

 Heated discussions about pedestrian safety and traffic issues earlier this year led to an August decision to set tighter rules for sidewalk patios. The result was a three-month pilot program — which was reviewed on Tuesday — establishing patio curfews, maximum capacity limits, and stanchion requirements for all sidewalk dining areas.

 Bar owners predicted in August that the rules would hurt their business, which Zack Medford, owner of Fayetteville Street's Paddy O'Beers, said has proved to be true.

 "Up until the ordinance went into effect, we were having a year of record sales at Paddy O' Beers," Medford said. "Then with the ordinance going into effect, having tighter restrictions, losing about half of our seats, having inspectors inside our businesses everyday, our revenue dropped by 18 percent."

 Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane said she appreciated the restaurant and bar owners' "willingness and understanding that this is about working on this together, and their willingness to take on that responsibility, and knowing that it really does fall to them." Also, she said she was glad to hear restaurant and bar owners "use the word 'privilege' when they were talking about using the sidewalk."

 Medford said he is encouraged by the mayor's support, and believes that the council's decision is headed in the right direction. But he said sidewalk-dining permit process is still too confusing.

 During his application this year to renew Paddy O'Beers' sidewalk seating permit, Medford said he sent multiple drawings to the city, applying four times before gaining approval. The process spanned several weeks, and required Medford to pay an architect for each revision of his patio plan.

 "I've heard nightmare story after nightmare story about business owners getting their plan approved," Medford said. "I've been doing this a long time. I'm kind of the paperwork/city regulation guy for our business. I have a very hard time with this. I can't imagine how somebody else who has never had to jump through these hoops before would manage this."

 Medford said he hopes the council will continue to exercise common sense in coming decisions, and that the city will consider revising its approach to zoning measurements for patio plans.

 "Now everyone is starting to settle down and look at things from a realistic standpoint and come up with solutions that are actually going to fix the problem and help everybody understand how the process works, and still be successful in their businesses," he said.

 For council members Wayne Maiorano and Kay Crowder, the solution to fixing the problem is not to ease up on the rules, but to continue on enforcing the restrictions as originally proposed.

 "I think we recognized that this was an issue of rules, enforcement, and ownership ... for city, business owners, and community," Maiorano said. "This 90-day exercise has shown that, together, we can do better. And we are doing better. I fail to appreciate why we would [change the rules] now...and go in a direction that's inconsistent with the lessons we've learned."