(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2023)
Workers put out tables on a morning in April at Davidson Brothers' Brewery in Glens Falls.
The discussion of outdoor dining in Glens Falls and the rules and regulations surrounding the practice continued last week in Crandall Library as local restaurateur Ben Miller, owner of Park and Elm, questioned the ability of the city to enforce the regulations that officials say will drive decisions this year about who gets outdoor dining permits and how many tables and chairs will be permitted on public sidewalks.
Mayor Bill Collins and Fourth Ward Councilor Ben Lapham said the state, especially the Department of Transportation, had agreed that municipalities would follow the federal Public Rights-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines even if the federal regulations were not full law at this point.
Also, the outdoor dining permits are made with the approval of the council at their privilege, and they can choose how much access to the sidewalk to give, the mayor said. The discussion, which remained civil, took place in Crandall Library on Thursday April 6.
The federal Access Board is developing what are now proposed Public Rights-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines, or the PROWAG, which define, among other things, how clear a sidewalk must be for people to move unimpeded.
[Read our earlier story here.]
Some of the outdoor dining approved by the city has been out-of-compliance as the tables and chairs choke what should be a clear path at least 5-feet wide, the mayor has said.
Miller said he was not fighting the idea that outdoor seating should still allow all people access to the sidewalk, but he wondered if the city was creating a regulation it could not enforce. He also was wondering just how much the city can make exceptions.
He said he was hoping to put benches on the sidewalk along the wall outside his Market at Park and Elm.
Last week and in an interview April 11, Lapham cited the New York State Department of Transportation regulations which clearly state on new construction the federal PROWAG are to be followed, and new construction includes repaving the road next to the sidwalk. Filling potholes is not enough, but repaving triggers the regulations, and the city must then follow them.
The mayor and Lapham said that they are trying to avoid future lawsuits if they approve outdoor dining options that do not follow PROWAG.
“I can’t pretend I didn’t hear about them,” the guidelines, the mayor said, waving a copy of the regulations.
Lapham agreed.
The city resurfaced about 23 streets or sections of streets in 2022 with another 30 on a list of possible sites for resurfacing in 2023.
As well, the regulations play into the state’s and federal government’s complete streets programs, which aim to improve access, and stems from the Federal Highway Safety Administration’s overall plan to match Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines with the complete streets, Lapham said.
”When you combine all these things, there is no way to say ‘this thing is optional,’” he said in an interview.