Sidewalk Dining Season Is Here, But Cities Are Changing the Rules — Here’s What to Know

For many diners, outdoor cafes are a delightful summer sight, with festive vibes and delicious food and drinks. For owners, sidewalk and street seating was a lifeline for restaurants when pandemic restrictions were in force. 

But in 2024, there’s tension in some places between bureaucrats and restaurateurs. Some cities are blocking or limiting the amount of space that cafes can use, and others have ramped up the cost of doing outdoor business.

Beginning in late May, Berkeley, Calif., began charging restaurant owners thousands of dollars a year to operate a streetside seating area. About 25 businesses have hosted them in the past, using sidewalks, parking spots, and alleys. The city said businesses now have three choices: They can operate in the street using parking spaces, use their sidewalk for seating, or convert street space into a public park, called a parklet.

The parking space conversion requires an “outdoor commerce use fee.” The cost is calculated by multiplying the number of hours the space would be in use per year, by the hourly parking fee by the number of spaces. 

Here’s an example provided by Berkeley. A restaurant that uses two parking spaces with an hourly rate of $1.50 would face a fee based on 2,709 hours of normal use, times $1.50 for each space. That means two parking spaces carry a $8,127 annual fee.

If it’s meterless parking where the seating is set, Berkeley is charging the price of a temporary “No Parking” sign, which costs $221 a month. Multiplied by 12 months, that comes out to $2,652 per parking space each year. 

Berkeley instituted the program because the city lost money during COVID from allowing restaurants to take over parking spaces. In 2021, for instance, council members estimated the losses amounted to $3,000 to $6,000 per space, according to SF Gate.

In Chicago, a controversy went on for weeks over whether a group of popular restaurants on Clark Street in the River North neighborhood would be allowed to close the street to serve customers. Under a compromise in May, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration said restaurants can set up seating in curbside lanes on either side of the street. 

But traffic will still flow down the middle — an idea that frankly makes me nervous, having driven on Clark. In fact, Alderman Brandon Reilly, who pushed for a complete closure of Clark Street, said the plan would have a “horrendous impact on traffic flow and safety on Clark Street.” 

However, celebrity chef Rick Bayless, who has operated on Clark for three decades, told Fox 32 TV that he’s cool with the idea. He said his restaurants would build a half-sized wall and face tables away from the street, so the traffic doesn’t bother diners. 

Some Boston restaurant owners would love to have that much flexibility. For the second straight year, cafes in the crowded North End are banned from taking part in the city’s outdoor dining program. Mayor Michelle Wu said there’s simply too much density in the old, traditionally Italian neighborhood to allow it. 

In response, twenty-one restaurant owners filed a lawsuit, saying that they lost income due to the outdoor dining ban in 2023 and 2024. At a press conference in March, they said they wanted refunds of the $7,500 in fees that North End restaurants were required to pay in 2022, and compensation for the expense of storing equipment and furniture used for outdoor dining.

By contrast, New York City is allowing restaurants across the city to apply to permanently offer outdoor seating. It says the program, called Dining Out New York, is the largest such open-air dining venture in the U.S. As with pretty much everything in the city, there’s a cost. Restaurants must pay $1,050 for a four-year fee that covers either street or sidewalk cafes — or $2,100 for both roadway and sidewalk cafes. Then there’s another annual charge, which must be paid during the life of the permit that’s based on the size and location of a restaurant. 

The most expensive are on either side of Central Park, where restaurants will pay $31 per square footage of sidewalk, or $25 per square foot of roadway. Restaurants can operate in the street from April through May, but must dismantle their roadway cafes in cold weather months, 

So, if you’ve dreamed of a romantic date on your big-city vacation or a night out after work, you can still find a spot to linger outdoors in lots of places — except the North End.