Marte questions DOT on Intro 894 winterization consistency between sidewalk and roadway cafes
Councilmember Marte asks about replicating winterization standards between sidewalk and roadway cafes. Craven explains both currently must be open-air with some coverings, and DOT is exploring temporary siding options for wind and snow protection with consistent standards for both setups.
Thank you for being here.
I just wanted to clarify one of the points that you made.
You said that in regards to Brewer's Bill 894 and the winterization of Sidewalk Cafe, you mentioned that you wanted something that could be replicated on the roadside.
Can you talk about that a little bit further?
How would that look like?
What are some potential options of something that could be replicated from the sidewalk to a roadside cafe?
I think we're still kind of in early discussions about this, so I don't want to get too specific into anything.
But I think both roadway and sidewalk currently are required to be open air, right?
So you can have some sort of coverings on both, but you're not really supposed to have anything on the side.
So we're trying to figure out what kind of siding could be put up on a temporary basis through the winter.
Ideally with the dates to match on both, which they currently don't quite do with this bill, but to have something that could provide some kind of wind protection and snow protection and whatever else on the sides of the
setups for the comfort of everyone sitting inside.
But I think we would want some kind of similar materials, similar requirements, protection from the snow.
There might be standards to make sure that the roof doesn't collapse if there's too much snow, something like that.
So those kinds of things are what we're trying to work out.
And we think it would probably make sense to look at those things together and just be consistent.
It'll be easier for us.
It'll be easier for the restaurants.
It'll be easier for everyone sort of trying to.
Okay.