Puyallup encourages outdoor dining downtown during COVID-19 restrictions
Puyallup is making it easier for downtown restaurants to have outdoor dining during COVID-19 restrictions.
The Puyallup City Council passed legislation unanimously Jan. 5 to help restaurants serve on sidewalks, parking lots and parking spaces.
The ordinance allows tent and sidewalk permits that are normally expire after 30 days to remain in effect until October. Businesses can set up tent coverings that comply with state restrictions, borrow city-owned parklets and provide services or curb-side pickup onto sidewalks with city approval.
Gov. Jay Inslee implemented COVID-19 restrictions that banned indoor dining, and indoor retail has been limited to 25 percent capacity. Outdoor dining at limited capacity and takeout service are still allowed.
The pandemic has “substantially decreased” traffic and parking use downtown, the city said. Staff decided to allow businesses to convert parking spaces into extensions of shops and dining.
Puyallup’s economic development manager Meredith Neal said the outdoor permits have been used to help restaurants grow their available tables, businesses to have outdoor markets and a downtown gym to offer distanced classes.
The legislation also waived fees for tent and pop-up permits, which normally cost around $10 a day for a tent or stand. An estimated $4,000 of fees have been waived, Mayor Julie Door said.
Fourteen permits have been issued, six for parklets, one for use of the sidewalk and seven for tents, Neal said.
Each of the permit applications has been approved by the city. If changes to the original application are needed, the city works with the business owner to make adjustments, Neal said.
“They showed us a way to do it,” Bourbon Street Bar and Grill owner Mike de Alwis said of the city. “If there is a problem, they don’t shut me down. They show me how to correct it.”
The city has prioritized approving tents and other structures with a turnaround time of less than four days.
City staff and Central Pierce Fire & Rescue inspects tent structures and safety of any heating units.
Puyallup has decided that clear walls on tents are necessary to ensure that pedestrians and drivers could still see traffic through the tents.
“We have taken the approach of act now and adapt as needed, but there has definitely been a huge amount of adaptation,” Neal said.
The bill was passed the night of its first reading. Door said the council already passed a resolution in June that laid the foundation for temporary permits allowing tents to be used for more than 30 days.
The mayor said the council wanted to do everything it could to support small business.
“Prioritizing our small businesses is incredibly important, and I would hope that our constituents will continue to support them,” Door told The Puyallup Herald. “Small business are what give a town their uniqueness, and they are people who are invested in us. It’s important we do everything we can to keep them afloat, and this ordinance helped facilitate that.”
The program is set to end Oct. 31, 2021.
De Alwis said he appreciates all the city has done to support Bourbon Street Bar and Grill. With the income of outdoor dining and takeout, he is hiring to grow his 15-person staff.
“No doubt, with outdoor dining, business has definitely picked up,” De Alwis said. “The program has helped to facilitate business for a lot of people here.”
The outdoor tent holds six or seven tables. He intends to add another tent.
An end date for the indoor dining ban is as yet unknown.
Tents, heaters, fire pits and propane tanks are in short supply as restaurants around the county clamor to “winterize” their outdoor seating arrangements.
Dozens of Pierce County restaurants have since upped their patio game, with everything from string lights and flower pots to televisions and personal tents.
The push for outdoor dining began long before it became a necessity.
Tacoma created its curbside cafe program last June, allowing bars and restaurants on certain streets — with low speed limits, for instance — to build seating areas in place of parking spaces. Incline Cider House at the Brewery Blocks development downtown was the first to open, a lifeline for such taprooms through prolonged restrictions.
In Sumner, which also has several parklets, an entrepreneurial couple recently transformed an otherwise dead space between two buildings into a public-use outdoor seating area. Called Takeout Alley, it is situated right next to Electric Coffee House and steps from other downtown restaurants.
Around Thanksgiving, Buckley decided it would close down a section of Main Street to traffic every weekend. The city, which also has allowed tented curbside cafes, provided portable fire pits and lawn chairs, which restaurants help set up on Friday afternoons and take in each night.
Whether in plazas or along the waterfront, Gig Harbor has likewise allowed its restaurants to enhance, expand or create their outdoor areas.
This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 5:10 AM.
