Salem To 'Embrace' Outdoor Dining Once Again For 2022

SALEM, MA — As Salem navigated the challenges of the unknown in the first summer of the COVID-19 health crisis, one innovation that many pointed to as a net positive amid all the arduous restrictions was the "European feel" of the city's widely expanded outdoor dining program downtown.

Two years later, as some cities and towns look to draw down those programs with indoor dining at full capacity, Salem City Solicitor Beth Rennard said Salem is keeping its program "exactly the same" with a similar number of downtown businesses recently applying for the seasonal outdoor licenses.

"It's something that we definitely want to embrace," Rennard told Patch on Wednesday. "People really enjoy it. When we opened the licensing process, people were responding that night filling out their applications online."

Although popular with many restaurant owners and diners, there has been a backlash in some communities around giving up the city- or town-owned property — sidewalks, parking spaces and, in some cases, parts of entire streets — to private businesses for their own profit.

A portion of Moody Street in Waltham will also be closed for a third street year as a pedestrian way despite some neighbor complaints about rerouted traffic and reduced parking, while North End restaurants in Boston have been embroiled in controversy in recent weeks after Mayor Michelle Wu instituted a $7,500 fee per business for outdoor dining in the densely packed neighborhood.

While Wu said the three-year pilot program in Boston will be reexamined after this summer, Rennard indicated Salem will look for ways to keep its outdoor dining in place long-term.

"We’re watching and learning," Rennard said of the North End ordeal. "When we go to a permanent solution and if it's on city property we would probably look at some type of a license agreement (between the business and city)."

For this summer, she said, the city will work with businesses and the Department of Public Works to ensure that any dining that extends into a street does so in a way that allows for a safe flow of traffic.

The Licensing Commission will consider outdoor dining applications at its April 11 meeting with the Al Fresco service start date to be determined then or shortly thereafter.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)