New York City\u2019s outdoor dining landscape is back in flux again, with the City Council seeking to make some serious alterations to regulations rolled out by the city\u2019s Department of Transportation last year.<\/p>\n
The most prominent bill, Int 1421-2025, is co-sponsored by Upper East Side Council Member Julie Menin and Brooklyn Council Member Lincoln Restler. It would allow restaurants to operate roadway dining sheds year-round instead of seasonally, allow grocery stores to apply for sidewalk sheds, and allow all businesses to expand the footprint of sidewalk sheds.<\/p>\n
Currently, roadway sheds must be disassembled and put away between Nov. 29 to April 1. Sidewalk sheds are allowed to operate year-round.<\/p>\n
Another bill would streamline the shed application process, while a third would limit the \u201cpedestrian clear path\u201d that applicants must maintain.<\/p>\n
The DOT\u2019s formalized \u201cDining Out NYC\u201d program, which replaced the patchwork of \u201ctemporary\u201d rules that sprung up during the pandemic, has already been under sustained fire from the Council since the spring.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers took issue with the fact that there were only 4,000 \u201cDining Out\u201d shed applications submitted by April 1, down from a total of 12,000 during outdoor dining\u2019s 2020 peak. Most applicants only received \u201cconditional\u201d approval to operate, as well, while they completed the bureaucratic process.<\/p>\n
As for why such a drop-off occurred, some businesses and lawmakers called the new rules expensive and onerous, as well as cited the high cost of taking down roadway sheds for the winter.<\/p>\n
The new bills were the subject of a hearing on Nov. 24, where various city officials\u2014including DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez\u2014were questioned.<\/p>\n
Restler kicked things off by outlining his take on the strictly-seasonal roadway \u201cDining Out\u201d program: \u201cInstead of New Yorkers enjoying a bite outside, we will have thousands of parked cars, SUVS, and trucks lining our streets…who knows how many restaurants will be able to come back in April after the costly disassembly and storage fees.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council Member Menin was also pointed about what she saw as the current program\u2019s failings, bringing up new data revealing that only 400 (out of 4,000) shed applications have been fully approved by the DOT. \u201cSo, basically, only 10 percent have been fully approved,\u201d she said, adding that her understanding was that local businesses want \u201cthe certainty of a full approval.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dI guess that my overarching concern is that the program is seasonal…you\u2019re asking these business to outlay a tremendous amount of money, and asking them to store furniture the other six months of the year, which many restaurants don\u2019t have the space to do,\u201d Menin added.<\/p>\n