Outdoor Dining Program Survives Upper East Siders' Scrutiny

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The outdoor dining program that has reshaped New York City's streets during the pandemic survived the scrutiny of an Upper East Side community board this week, as members voted to approve the city's bid to make the setups permanent.

Thursday's public hearing by Community Board 8 was one of dozens being held by boards across the five boroughs to examine the city's proposal to amend its zoning code, allowing Open Restaurants to exist in perpetuity under the auspices of the Department of Transportation.

The program, which cut months' worth of red tape to allow eateries to quickly add seating on streets and sidewalks, has proved wildly popular among customers and restaurateurs alike. The Upper East Side has been no exception: there are now 487 sidewalk cafés in the neighborhood compared to just 126 before the pandemic, a city official told the board. (Of those, 97 would have been illegal pre-pandemic.)

In some neighborhoods, the notion of permanent outdoor dining has stoked fierce opposition. Furious neighbors packed Lower Manhattan board meetings in July, holding signs reading "Outdoor Dining Destroys Our Peace" and lamenting the noise and vermin that followed the sheds.

On the Upper East Side, however, the program got a warmer reception: Of the roughly two dozen people who spoke during Thursday night's two-hour discussion, most were supportive of the zoning amendment.

Online comments solicited by Community Board 8 before the meeting were more lopsided: over 70 percent of the 325 comments were fully or partly supportive of making Open Restaurants permanent.

“The restaurant industry is very much an engine … to the New York economy," board member Sharon Pope-Marshall said. "We really have to think out of the box and support people who have a great deal more knowledge about this than you and I do."

The board ultimately voted 27-15 to approve a resolution supporting the proposal, after voting down another measure opposing it.

Restaurateurs who joined Thursday's meeting included Dobi Trendafilova, an executive at the neighborhood bistro Le Bilboquet, who said her business may not have survived the pandemic without outdoor dining.

Concerns raised by Thursday's speakers largely revolved around accessibility — a major concern raised for months, including from supporters of the program, who say the dining sheds can make sidewalks impassable for the elderly and disabled.

Representatives from the Department of City Planning said the permanent program would take those concerns into account through rules requiring sidewalk space and ADA compliance.

Others argued that the city was moving too quickly to change the zoning code without a trial period. Board member Michele Birnbaum, meanwhile, objected to the dining shed's aesthetics, calling them "a visual blight."

"I have not heard one reason why this is a good idea going forward except that, 'Oh, it was fun to eat out,'" she said.

City officials say Open Restaurants has saved as many as 100,000 restaurant jobs that would have been lost during the pandemic.

Russell Squire, who chairs Community Board 8, called the program "a vital lifeline to the small businesses that contribute tremendously to the character of our neighborhoods."

"This zoning text amendment is an important step in making Open Restaurants permanent, a process that will involve additional input from Community Board 8 and the community more broadly as the details are worked out," he told Patch in a message.

Once each community board has gotten the chance to weigh in, the "Permanent Open Restaurant program" will head to the borough presidents, and later to the City Council, to be ratified. The current emergency program would last until 2023, when the new, permanent program would take effect.

Previous coverage: Upper East Side Board Wants Your Thoughts On Outdoor Restaurants