[ad_1]
SAN DIEGO –
Restaurants across San Diego will soon be allowed to permanently set up their outdoor COVID-19 restaurants if they pay the city a fee to make streets and sidewalks more inviting to dine.
A portion of the revenue from the new fee would be spent on widening sidewalks, street trees and other upgrades to make the streets more attractive to walkers and cyclists. The money from the fee would also help boost outdoor dining in low-income areas.
The proposal, dubbed “Spaces As Places,” unveiled by San Diego on Monday would essentially make permanent the emergency al fresco dining permits the city issued to restaurants across the city shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began.
But in return for restaurants to permanently expand into outdoor spaces like sidewalks and street parking lots, the city would charge a fee to cover recreational facilities aimed at turning streets into public promenades.
David Garrick on our San Diego News Fix Podcast:
The amount of the fee paid by each restaurant would be based on the amount of public right of way land they took over. The fee would be lower if the approach land were open to the public during restaurant opening times.
Half of the revenue from the proposed fee would cover the upgrading of right of way areas across the city.
The other half would include efforts to create al fresco dining areas in what are considered to be “worrying communities,” which are typically ethnically diverse neighborhoods with relatively low incomes.
Members of the city council praised the proposal on Monday as an innovative way to strengthen gastronomy and at the same time make districts more attractive for pedestrians and cyclists.
The city’s climate protection plan calls for more people to walk and cycle and fewer people to travel by car. The proposal could help the city achieve the goals of the legally binding plan.
Council members also praised the proposal to focus on social justice by channeling half of the money from the new fee to low-income areas where there were fewer outdoor dining options during the pandemic.
City councilor Marni von Wilpert called the permanent expansion of outdoor catering a “silver lining” of the pandemic because the city administration would probably not have tried if the pandemic had not made indoor dining dangerous.
Council President Dr. Jennifer Campbell said she supported outdoor dining and efforts to encourage people to walk and cycle, but Campbell also raised concerns that the changes could make it harder for older residents to eat out.
“I find it wonderful that we are considering doing this permanently, but we have to be very, very careful that many of our populations are physically unable to take long walks or bike rides or skateboards or scooters,” Campbell said . “We don’t want to prevent them from enjoying life and these public spaces.”
Campbell said she hopes city officials can find a solution, possibly including parking spaces reserved for the elderly. The city’s proposal would prevent the elimination of disabled parking spaces.
“I ask you to think twice,” Campbell told town officials. “There has to be a balance”
Councilors Stephen Whitburn and Sean Elo-Rivera raised closer concerns such as safety.
“How are we going to prevent cars from crashing into seats that have been extended into a former parking or driving lane,” asked Whitburn.
City officials said the proposal would include barriers to protect outdoor guests and pedestrians. And eating outdoors would be prohibited on roads where the speed limit is more than 50 km / h.
The al fresco dining must also be at least 20 m from an intersection and not within an alley, bike path or bus lane. Nor could it be near gullies or fire hydrants. Outdoor dining in residential areas would have more restricted opening times.
City officials said the proposal included a variety of options for restaurants and neighborhoods, including curb extensions, public boardwalks, and dining in former restaurant parking lots in areas near traffic.
The proposal was revealed on Monday during a meeting of the council’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Committee. City officials said they expect to table the proposal to several other committees before getting final approval in the fall.
Two workshops on the proposal held by city officials in June attracted more than 150 people, including many restaurant owners. No citizen spoke out for or against the proposal on Monday.
[ad_2]
Source link
