Manhattan Beach Waives Fees for Outdoor Dining Decks
Mar 05, 2022 11:45AM ● By Jeanne Fratello
The outdoor dining deck at Slay Italian Kitchen. Photo via Slay Italian Kitchen.
The Manhattan Beach City Council has agreed to waive the fees that it charges to restaurants for the use of outdoor dining decks in the public right-of-way. In the meantime, councilmembers directed staff to research what other cities are doing and to seek alternatives for increasing outdoor seating.
Prior to Tuesday night's City Council meeting, Manhattan Beach had been charging restaurants $3 per square foot per month for the use of the sidewalks and parking spaces for outdoor dining.
But the issue about restaurant occupancy limits - and charging for outdoor dining decks - has intensified as a sore point for restaurants in the past few weeks.
Since last June, restaurants have been able to go up to 100 percent of their allowed occupancy through a combination of indoor and outdoor dining.
However, during the late December-January surge of the Omicron variant of COVID, the city began receiving more complaints about restaurants exceeding their occupancy limits. The city began enforcing occupancy limits more aggressively, to the frustration of many restaurateurs.
Tuesday night's discussion came about because City Council had sought input from staff on whether outdoor dining space might be expanded.
Yet as city staff reported, Manhattan Beach has already reduced its number of Coastal Commission-required parking spaces to accommodate outdoor dining during the current state of emergency and it is unlikely that the city would be able to take away more spaces.
"I don’t think that the question about occupancy is a question about whether we support outdoor dining," observed Manhattan Beach Mayor Hildy Stern. "We all love to sit outside and eat; it’s about using the parking spaces to sit outside and eat."
City staff also warned that spending more time on COVID state-of-emergency outdoor dining policies would delay the city's ability to move forward on its long term work plan to create permanent outdoor dining.
"The more we focus on the emergency effort, the less we’re able to get to the long term effort," Manhattan Beach Community Development Director Carrie Tai told the council.
The council's final decision was to continue the use of the dining decks at 100% occupancy, discontinue the $3 per square foot fee, and continue to seek more options for outdoor seating and to research how other cities are addressing the issue.
“I appreciate the fair decision by City Council to suspend fees
charged for dining in the public right of way until the issue of
occupancy can be resolved," Jill Lamkin, the executive director of the Downtown Manhattan Beach Business and Professional Association, told MB News after the meeting. "I’m hoping staff returns with best practices
from other cities to help us come to a resolution that works for the
city, the residents and the businesses.”
Restaurants Experience Multitude of Policy Changes
Manhattan Beach restaurants - along with other restaurants across Los Angeles County - have experienced a dizzying array of policy
changes since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Below is a chart from the city of Manhattan Beach illustrating the changes in capacity allowances for Manhattan Beach restaurants since March 2020.
Currently, restaurants are allowed to go up to 100% of total allowed capacity, with discretion as to how those seats are divide between indoor and outdoor dining.
At Tuesday night's meeting, City Council heard comments from both restaurateurs who are continuing to struggle to make up for losses experienced during the COVID pandemic, and from nearby residents who have been adversely affected by increased noise and traffic stemming from outdoor dining decks.
Ongoing Policy Discussion of Outdoor Dining
The issue of how best to support restaurants and also protect neighbors has been an ongoing discussion throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The MB News has had regular and ongoing coverage of the
issue throughout the pandemic. A timeline of developments in outdoor dining deck discussion is as follows:
- The Manhattan Beach City Council's rare and last-minute May 25, 2020 holiday meeting in which they approved a letter to the county urging officials to allow restaurants to re-open.
- The Manhattan Beach City Council's June 9, 2020 vote to approve temporary dining decks in the public right-of-way.
- The City Council's July 4, 2020 vote to expand opportunities for restaurants to apply for outdoor dining deck permits.
- City Council's August 4, 2020 decision to extend operating hours for restaurants until 11:00 p.m.
- The L.A. County Board of Supervisors' November 24, 2021 decision to suspend in-person dining during the winter COVID surge.
- The January 29, 2021 re-opening of outdoor dining after the stay-at-home order was lifted.
- City Council's February 16, 2021 agreement to extend the closure of Manhattan Ave. for outdoor dining.
- The February 23, 2021 re-opening of Manhattan Ave. to vehicular traffic.
- The March 15, 2021 re-opening of indoor dining to 25 percent capacity.
- The city's March 16, 2021 agreement to expand outdoor dining opportunities, including spaces on Manhattan Beach Blvd. west of Ocean Ave.
- City Council's May 18, 2021 agreement to extend temporary outdoor dining decks through Labor Day.
- City Council's June 15, 2021 agreement to allow an extension of outdoor dining decks on Manhattan Beach Blvd. west of Ocean Ave.
- City Council's July 6, 2021 decision to waive outdoor usage fees for the public right-of-way through Labor Day.
- City Council's August 24, 2021 agreement to extend the temporary dining decks until January 3.
- City Council's September 21, 2021 decision to begin charging $1 per square foot for use of the public right-of-way.
- City Council's October 5, 2021 agreement to scale back dining decks to allow retailers to reclaim access to their storefronts.
- CIty Council's December 7, 2021 decision to reaffirm closure of temporary dining decks by January 3.
- City Council's December 21, 2021 decision to allow temporary dining decks to continue past January 3.
