Dining Al Fresco in New York is Here to Stay

A new bill has brought about a consensus between restaurant proprietors and local residents, finding common ground and reaching a compromise. The law will ease the overly stringent pre-pandemic requirements for obtaining licenses for sidewalk cafes. The New York City Outside Dining Act was passed by the City Council on Thursday, August 3, 2023, awaiting Mayor Adams signature.

Critically, this new bill allows for year-round outdoor dining on sidewalks, but only eight months in the gutters, streets and roadways. The period that the sheds will not be permitted in the streets will be from November 30 through March 31 in New York City. The bill however is not without qualifications. The roadway dining structures such as outdoor sheds will need to be removed during the winter, which could be a blow to operators who invested in outdoor setups and be a quite costly venture to remove and reassemble each year. The hours of operation will be restricted from 10 am to midnight and the application for all outdoor dining must be reviewed before the local community Boards. The license for all outdoor dining structures will also need to now pay a fee based on location and square footage, however on a positive note the license fee will be much less than pre-pandemic and will be for a 4-year period.

While there have been numerous complaints against structures citing excessive noise, obstructed parking spaces, and sanitary concerns including the presence of rats and excessive waste the benefits these structures have to healthy dining clearly outweigh those concerns, at least at the moment, while the impact of Covid-19 remains pervasive in our daily existence.

For a complete read of the new law please see attached.

SDK HEIBERGER TEAM