Outdoor dining at the Austrian restaurant Schilling in New York City: Spargelcremesuppe, asaparagus cream soup
New York City released its final menu of rules for its Dining Out NYC program, building on a draft that was released last October as well as the Open Restaurants Program that was a temporary salve for restaurant industry that had been devastated by coronavirus pandemic shutdowns.
The move follows the August approval by the city council that gave the city the green light to roll out rules and minimum standards for any outdoor structures.
The biggest change is the elimination of the much maligned dining shed, the enclosed structures built by restaurants on roadways that more resembled extensions of the establishment’s actual dining room rather than a Covid-friendly outdoor dining experience. Another problem with the so-called sheds that soon developed was their abandonment when restaurants failed.
The Open Restaurants program began in the early days of the pandemic in 2020, giving restaurants the opportunity to offer diners the opportunity to enjoy table service even when indoor dining was forbidden. Hundreds of restaurants – some which had erected outdoor sheds – were forced to close permanently in the first two-and-a-half years of the pandemic and and their abandoned sheds continue to attract debris and vermin.
Starting in August 2022, the began to demolish dozens of outdoor dining structures that were opened by now-shuttered restaurants.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams noted that some have unfortunately also served as outdoor urinals, based on odors he noticed when announcing the demolition program at one such abandoned location.
The good news is that the new Dining Out NYC program approved by the city council does not permit restaurants to continue to erect and operate dining sheds. Instead, it will create a licensing structure that would allow open-airoutdoor dining structures that are wheelchair accessible to exist in roadways from April through November. The structures, which cannot be fully enclosed, must also be of a certain size and will also have to include drainage and barriers.
Sidewalk cafes would be allowed year-round.
“The new program draws on lessons learned from the temporary outdoor dining program created during the Covid-19 pandemic, which saved 100,000 jobs across the city but led to quality-of-life issues as a subset of restaurant owners were unable to maintain loosely regulated outdoor dining setups,” a news release issued by Mayor Eric Adam’s office on Friday said.
The new rules will require restaurants in a historic district or at a landmark site to receive approval by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission before being given a permit to erect an outdoor dining shed.
Last summer, the city released designs that show what new on-street structures may look like, including partial walls, screening, a soft roof with vertical supports, heating and lighting, and a planter that serves as a barrier.
At the time the plan was announced in May, Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement that outdoor dining had helped both restaurants and their employees stay afloat at the height of the pandemic and that it was “here to stay.” But he has also frequently spoken out about the “hundreds of abandoned sheds on our streets that have become havens for rats and eyesores for New Yorkers.”
“With this bill, we will create a permanent, year-round outdoor dining program that will support our small businesses, create jobs for New Yorkers, and keep our streets and communities vibrant,” Hizzoner said in May.
The new rules go into effect on March 3 of this year.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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