Sunshine is within the forecast, but the prospect of dining al fresco for Latest Yorkers continues to be low.
City restaurants say their outdoor seating is restricted or non-existent as a consequence of recent regulations — which first went into effect last August and place a litany of size and clearance restrictions on setups — and a bureaucratic backlog.
“So many persons are calling and asking to order tables outside, and I actually have to maintain telling them no,’’ Enrico Proietti, owner of Bella Blu on the Upper East Side, told The Post.
At present, the restaurant has just 4 tables-for-two outside because it awaits full approval on what it had previously — a well-liked outdoor gazebo — and seating for twice as many.
After applying for a permit months ago, Proietti finally had a Zoom appointment with the community board last week and is now in a holding pattern until a board vote on May 16.
“We’re all waiting to place up our structures, they usually were speculated to start [issuing approvals] in April, but it’s going to probably be June before we will have them, and by then, everyone will leave for the Hamptons!” he said.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has received 3,200 applications for outdoor dining permits. Of the remaining 2,600, there are roughly 1,800 sidewalk setups which can be being allowed to operate while they’re being reviewed and about 800 larger setups stretching into roadways which have been granted conditional approval, because the DOT has sought to chop through red tape that caused a backlog.
“The overwhelming majority of restaurants that applied were eligible to participate in the beginning of the roadway outdoor dining season,” a DOT spokesperson told The Post.
But, 600 applications are still in-process and haven’t been approved in any way, and only 82 restaurants — 45 with sidewalk dining and 37 with roadway setups — have been granted full approval.
“The DOT realized they’d a backlog at the tip of the winter, and commenced to roll out conditional approval to try to speed things along,’’ explained Mara Davis, the City Council’s Deputy Press Secretary. ” “Since it took so long, [some restaurants] won’t have designed or purchased any structures yet.”
Even for applications for easy sidewalk dining (and never elaborate structures that may spill into parking lanes), community boards get 40 days to review, and city council gets 45, in keeping with the DOT. Once the community board meeting happens, depending upon the final result, the DOT could also be required to carry a public meeting and the City Council has a chance to review. The restaurant also has to pay for promoting to make the general public aware that the community board meeting is occurring.
The approval process is a sophisticated one. After applications are accepted by the DOT, community board hearings should be held, and once permits are obtained, a second round of community hearings are vital before additional licenses from the State Liquor Authority (SLA), required to serve booze outdoors, could be granted.
“Having to go backwards and forwards between the SLA and community boards on top of running the companies and coping with build-outs put these people in a can’t-win situation,’’ said Max Crespo, the co-owner of Roadway Cafes, an organization that constructs sheds for lots of the city’s top restaurants including Sant Ambroeus, Balthazar, Lure and Village Taverna.
Rosanna Scotto, whose Midtown restaurant Fresco by Scotto had a sprawling lemon garden with seating for 40 last 12 months, filed her application last August. She was only just approved for a scaled back plan for this 12 months that may only have seating for 12.
“The method is crazy,’’ she told The Post. “We’re planning for it to be beautiful with numerous flowers, but it surely’s very cumbersome and expensive. We [were] 1000’s of dollars into this without knowing if we [would] have approval.’’
Diners are fed up.
On a recent warm spring night, Aly Josephs, a 23-year-old who works in marketing, was so eager to dine outdoors, she was sharing a chair at Bel Ami on Lexington Avenue with a friend.
“Persons are hogging chairs; they stole the opposite one right from our table,’’ she sighed. “We just need to be within the sun.”
“Sometimes, at this point, I just wind up getting take-out and going to the park.”
Josh Trill
Josh Trill, 27, who works at an insurance company and lives on the Upper East Side, was lucky enough to get an outside seat at nearby Sojourn Social — a must since he has a dog.
“Before, [we] could go almost anywhere, but now I actually have to Google to search out places [with outdoor seating],” he said. “Sometimes, at this point, I just wind up getting take-out and going to the park.”
Last week, the City Council held a hearing to contemplate loosening the brand new ordinances and reducing fees, though it has yet to alter any policies.
“Loads of problems were raised and quite a lot of potential solutions presented,’’ Davis said. “We are going to evaluate for possible next steps.’’
Until then, nabbing a sidewalk table is more likely to be a challenge.
“Things are improving,” Crespo said, “but without delay, it’s easier to search out a boyfriend than an outside dining seat in Latest York.”
Sunshine is within the forecast, but the prospect of dining al fresco for Latest Yorkers continues to be low.
City restaurants say their outdoor seating is restricted or non-existent as a consequence of recent regulations — which first went into effect last August and place a litany of size and clearance restrictions on setups — and a bureaucratic backlog.
“So many persons are calling and asking to order tables outside, and I actually have to maintain telling them no,’’ Enrico Proietti, owner of Bella Blu on the Upper East Side, told The Post.
At present, the restaurant has just 4 tables-for-two outside because it awaits full approval on what it had previously — a well-liked outdoor gazebo — and seating for twice as many.
After applying for a permit months ago, Proietti finally had a Zoom appointment with the community board last week and is now in a holding pattern until a board vote on May 16.
“We’re all waiting to place up our structures, they usually were speculated to start [issuing approvals] in April, but it’s going to probably be June before we will have them, and by then, everyone will leave for the Hamptons!” he said.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has received 3,200 applications for outdoor dining permits. Of the remaining 2,600, there are roughly 1,800 sidewalk setups which can be being allowed to operate while they’re being reviewed and about 800 larger setups stretching into roadways which have been granted conditional approval, because the DOT has sought to chop through red tape that caused a backlog.
“The overwhelming majority of restaurants that applied were eligible to participate in the beginning of the roadway outdoor dining season,” a DOT spokesperson told The Post.
But, 600 applications are still in-process and haven’t been approved in any way, and only 82 restaurants — 45 with sidewalk dining and 37 with roadway setups — have been granted full approval.
“The DOT realized they’d a backlog at the tip of the winter, and commenced to roll out conditional approval to try to speed things along,’’ explained Mara Davis, the City Council’s Deputy Press Secretary. ” “Since it took so long, [some restaurants] won’t have designed or purchased any structures yet.”
Even for applications for easy sidewalk dining (and never elaborate structures that may spill into parking lanes), community boards get 40 days to review, and city council gets 45, in keeping with the DOT. Once the community board meeting happens, depending upon the final result, the DOT could also be required to carry a public meeting and the City Council has a chance to review. The restaurant also has to pay for promoting to make the general public aware that the community board meeting is occurring.
The approval process is a sophisticated one. After applications are accepted by the DOT, community board hearings should be held, and once permits are obtained, a second round of community hearings are vital before additional licenses from the State Liquor Authority (SLA), required to serve booze outdoors, could be granted.
“Having to go backwards and forwards between the SLA and community boards on top of running the companies and coping with build-outs put these people in a can’t-win situation,’’ said Max Crespo, the co-owner of Roadway Cafes, an organization that constructs sheds for lots of the city’s top restaurants including Sant Ambroeus, Balthazar, Lure and Village Taverna.
Rosanna Scotto, whose Midtown restaurant Fresco by Scotto had a sprawling lemon garden with seating for 40 last 12 months, filed her application last August. She was only just approved for a scaled back plan for this 12 months that may only have seating for 12.
“The method is crazy,’’ she told The Post. “We’re planning for it to be beautiful with numerous flowers, but it surely’s very cumbersome and expensive. We [were] 1000’s of dollars into this without knowing if we [would] have approval.’’
Diners are fed up.
On a recent warm spring night, Aly Josephs, a 23-year-old who works in marketing, was so eager to dine outdoors, she was sharing a chair at Bel Ami on Lexington Avenue with a friend.
“Persons are hogging chairs; they stole the opposite one right from our table,’’ she sighed. “We just need to be within the sun.”
“Sometimes, at this point, I just wind up getting take-out and going to the park.”
Josh Trill
Josh Trill, 27, who works at an insurance company and lives on the Upper East Side, was lucky enough to get an outside seat at nearby Sojourn Social — a must since he has a dog.
“Before, [we] could go almost anywhere, but now I actually have to Google to search out places [with outdoor seating],” he said. “Sometimes, at this point, I just wind up getting take-out and going to the park.”
Last week, the City Council held a hearing to contemplate loosening the brand new ordinances and reducing fees, though it has yet to alter any policies.
“Loads of problems were raised and quite a lot of potential solutions presented,’’ Davis said. “We are going to evaluate for possible next steps.’’
Until then, nabbing a sidewalk table is more likely to be a challenge.
“Things are improving,” Crespo said, “but without delay, it’s easier to search out a boyfriend than an outside dining seat in Latest York.”
