Mayor’s Column: January 9, 2023.
As the great fears of Covid seem to be mercifully ebbing, a fair number of you have reached out to me and the Trustees to express your opinions, both in favor of and/or against the continuation of outdoor dining in the Village as we are 2+ years into the experiment.
Knowing that some of our incredibly loyal merchants count on the outdoor dining as a continuing economic lifeline and the fact that between the five of us in Village government, we have no expertise in this field, we have reached out to professionals to assist us in assessing the program.
We believe it is also the opportune time to look at the entire downtown; food, non-food businesses, traffic patterns, etc. as everyone is a part of this ever-shifting landscape. As you remember, similar to our neighboring communities, we invoked our emergency powers to allow our food establishments to create outdoor dining opportunities, both to frankly keep them in business, and to also accommodate Villagers who felt extremely uncomfortable heading into any of our indoor establishments. We are now at a crossroads, as merchants do not want to spend money on outdoor upgrades if the program is going to change dramatically and rightly so. We need to envision what the Village will look like in the new paradigm going forward. To that end, we are in the process of engaging a consulting firm so named Street Plans to assist us in reimagining the Village streetscape. Street Plans is an international planning, urban design and transportation planning practice with emphasis on public engagement to reach comprehensive planning and development goals.
Current projects include work throughout Connecticut in New York City with the newly configured streetscape at One Vanderbilt across from Grand Central Station, a recent project.
Issues that will be addressed include a complete review of establishments that are contributing to the aesthetic and ambiance of the Village and those that are honestly currently a blight. We are in total concurrence that using our limited stock of parking places for furniture storage and/or the repository of dead plantings is completely unacceptable and severely impacts the ambiance and aesthetics of our Village streetscape. At the same, time we cannot but appreciate the establishments who meticulously keep their property at ideal hygienic and attractiveness standards.
Issues to be reviewed include the amount of garbage generated, trash pick-up, noise, adherence to fire codes, traffic safety, and the loss of parking spaces for customers of non-restaurant establishments. (As a note, outdoor restaurant owners pay the full cost of the parking spaces that their establishments occupy – such was not the case early in the COVID epidemic.)
The professionals will also be looking at vehicular circulation and emergency access especially in the area of Park Place taking into account that the Uber Eats and Door Dashes are part of the new norm.
To put in context, the gradient of preference for outdoor dining is wide with Larchmont fully embracing it to Rye’s closure of most outdoor venues.
Our neighbors in Greenwich recently attempted to strike a balance with the enactment of new and stringent regulations to take effect April 1. Regulations include requiring restaurants with more than 12 outdoor seats to get site approval from their Planning and Zoning Commission.
Permits are seasonal (April 1st to November 20th) and must be renewed annually. Failure to adhere to the stringent new regulations, including mandatory cleaning procedures, can result in revocation of a permit and egregious violations can result in permanent removal.
Our consultants will be reaching out to all stakeholders as part of the process. You are certainly free to weigh in at this juncture, but it would be even more helpful as the process unfolds and perhaps alternatives are proffered.
Like Greenwich, we recognize it is a delicate balancing act as we all try to adjust to a new normal.
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