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A Seattle City Council committee will take up debate Tuesday over how best to continue the pandemic success of street cafes while also reshaping the city’s rules around food trucks and sidewalk merchandise displays.
On the table are new sets of proposed rules for the Seattle Department of Transportation’s management of the programs that resulted in a proliferation of street dining tents and sidewalk patios across Capitol Hill during the COVID-19 crisis. Advocates showed that the features were extremely popular with customers despite issues around accessibility and concerns over street access and lost parking spots.
The council’s decision will include signing off on new fee structures that will make it cheaper for many restaurants and cafes to set up street and patio seating. The proposed changes would also create new rules that “emphasize the public nature of the street” and require cafes to “fit into and enhance” the streetscape while also setting guidelines for structures that are “visually permeable, attractive, durable, graffiti- resistant, and easy to clean and maintain.” The rules also require any street cafe or patio be treated as “public space outside of business hours.”
New rules also include more structure around full street closures that would continue to allow the motor vehicle closures while adding new requirements like public seating and community programming.
The council committee is slated to also finalize new rules to provide better structure to regulating the display of retail merchandise outside businesses and on sidewalks. It’s not clear how the new rules would impact the proliferation of clothing, vintage, and fashion street vendors who set up around Cal Anderson and Pike/Pine away from business storefronts.
Food trucks are also part of the new regulations as the council committee is expected to debate new proposals what would eliminate the current 50-foot buffer required to keep mobile food vendors away from existing restaurants while also allowing vendors to operate closers to schools and parks, and in non-commercial residential zones of the city.
It’s a full slate but the council’s transportation committee could vote on its approval for the new regulations during Tuesday’s session and send the new rules to the full council for a final vote in coming weeks.
UPDATE: The committee has approved the updates — including lifting the 50-foot buffer requirement for food trucks. The full council is planned to have a final vote on the legislation next week.
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They should make a rule that cars can’t crash into them.
If this all passes this could be huge. Great job Alyse Nelson and Joel Miller for creating a proposal that would greatly benefit the local community and reflects the desires of voters.
I like some of these ideas, and street patios make complete sense, although almost noone seems to be using them now that the weather has turned more….Seattle like. That’s a shame since now they sit empty six months or more out of the year. I also like emphasizing the need to make them meet certain visual and material standards. What I don’t get is the reference to treating them as public space outside of business hours. Does this mean people can just plop down at a table when the restaurant isn’t open and dine, work, hang out, as they please? If so, that places quite a burden on the restaurants to keep them clean and well managed.
You can tell city council you like street cafes and food trucks by emailing council@seattle.gov directly or using Seattle Neighborhood Greenways’ action form letter.
Thanks!
I hope that they consider providing access to electricity for the food trucks. Not keen on the idea of a bunch of generators running near schools/parks/homes