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(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2023)
Restaurants Farmacy, at left, and Ridici, at right will share outdoor dining space in the alley between them.
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(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2023)
Mikado Restaurant's fenced outdoor dining area was approved by the Glens Falls Common Council on April 25, 2023.
Restaurants looking to place tables and chairs for dining on city sidewalks outside their establishments will likely have their plans approved by the Glens Falls Common Council if the arrangement of the tables and chairs leaves at least a four-foot corridor for pedestrian traffic, but the city still hopes to see a five-foot corridor. The city council made this policy decision after a short presentation by Mayor Bill Collins at the council meeting Tuesday April 25.
As an example, the mayor projected an arrangement of tables and chairs outside Gourmet Cafe on Glen Street, though he did not name the restaurant. He said the table placed against the wall of the restaurant left 4 feet 7 inches of passable space for pedestrians in the sidewalk.
He used the location as an example, though the cafe did not have a permit in front of the council on Tuesday.
So long the restaurant did not place chairs on the end of the table, blocking that walking corridor, he believed the common council should approve similar plans for outdoor dining.
“We would never allow something that would have less than four feet anywhere,” he said while discussing the layout of tables and chairs. It would be the restaurant’s responsibility to make sure people did not sit at the end of the table and block pedestrian traffic.
The red brick on some of the city’s downtown sidewalks and ramps that lead from the sidewalk down to the street level may not be included in the measurement of passable space.
Third Ward Councilor Diana Palmer chairs the Buildings and Codes committee, and agreed with the general direction the policy has taken. Code enforcers would be called to restaurants that are in violation.
“I think as long as we’re compliant with the regulations to let people get by, we should let them have as many tables as they can fit” while still adhering to what are called PROWAG, or the Public Rights-of-Way Access Guidelines.
This year, the city has been pushing to follow the PROWAG rules, which the mayor and others now say require just four feet, and not the five feet they had been asking of restaurants. Five feet is a suggestion not a requirement under PROWAG, Collins said.
The timing of the new policy comes just as restaurants are asking for renewals of their outdoor dining permits. The permits generally run June 1 of one year to May 31 of the next year. Restaurant owners must reapply each year.
The mayor along with other city staff held two public discussions earlier this month regarding the PROWAG. Some restaurateurs maintained that the city need only follow Americans with Disability Act guidelines which call for three feet of clear corridor. They said the city might be making rules that they cannot enforce, legally.
[Read more about the discussions here and here.]
The mayor and Fourth Ward Councilor Ben Lapham have maintained that the city must follow PROWAG and that state law requires that they do so.
In the meantime the city approved outdoor dining permits for Mikado Restaurant on Glen St., Farmacy on Ridge Street, and Flight on South Street. Those permits come with the caveat that the restaurants will follow PROWAG guidelines and adhere to the table arrangements listed on their applications.
Flight and Mikado have metal fencing sequestering diners from the sidewalk, and those fences are set back at least five feet.
Farmacy is using the sidewalk in front of their building. The sidewalk is clear by more than five feet, their application says.
Farmacy will share the alleyway between their building and Radici. Two tables will be allowed in that alleyway and vehicles may only park there for dropoff.