Local communities search for creative ways to offer outdoor dining

Outdoor dining was abruptly moved from phase three to two in the state reopening scheme, meaning that Ulster County residents hankering for someone else to do the cooking can now eat near, if not inside, local restaurants. County, municipal and business leaders devised strategies to get the ball rolling after the new rules went into effect Friday. That includes creating temporary eating courts in public spaces and cutting through red tape to get temporary outdoor seating approved on a case-by-case basis.

Ulster County executive Pat Ryan is encouraging municipal leaders to suspend local ordinances and zoning laws to make outdoor seating easier. He signed an executive order to that effect. Following guidance from the governor’s office, supervisors and mayors have tacked that order on to the emergency declarations they made to shut things down for the pandemic in the first place. Instead of applying for a variance or to amend a site plan, business owners only have to fill out a building department application. These temporary applications are being expedited to help businesses to resume.

Not every eatery has space to convert into seating, as local leaders know. In his statement, Ryan also announced that three county-owned parking lots in Kingston would be available for weekend outdoor seating if business owners provide their own furniture and see to its regular disinfection.

Various Ulster County municipalities are handling the opportunities in their jurisdictions for outdoor dining in slightly different ways.

Participation in Kingston

Identifying usable spaces throughout the City of Kingston incorporates temporary seating in public and private spaces alike. Applications can include use of private open space or off-street parking, as well as public spaces including sidewalks and roadways (both parking spaces and traffic lanes) according to a statement from the mayor’s office. A sketch plan must be submitted showing the tables are at least six feet apart. No additional furnishings like umbrellas are allowed for these temporary arrangements. As with setups being approved elsewhere in the county, clear closing times are established. In Kingston, that’s ten o’clock sharp.

“When we have a sense of how many restaurants and shops are going to participate, and how much space they will need, we will inform the public of potential parking restrictions and possible road closures along with days and times,” said Kingston mayor Steve Noble. The guidelines for applications indicate that roadway closures in particular could be limited in scope, characterizing them as short-term and requiring “the removal of all dining/retail-related materials before the reopening time of the road.”

Minor roads in Woodstock

It’s tricky for towns to shut down significant roads for any period of time. “Unfortunately, Tinker Street and Mill Hill Road in Woodstock are State Route 212, and there’s not a viable alternate route that seemed viable,” said Woodstock supervisor Bill McKenna. Closures of minor roads, he said, were more likely. “Deming Street and Maple Lane are possibilities, but we haven’t made any decisions yet.”

McKenna’s also considering closing one entrance to the town’s main parking lot to facilitate some seating there, and he wants business owners to know that using space on neighboring property isn’t out of bounds, provided the neighboring owner agrees.

Supervisor McKenna issued an emergency order last week making it easier for businesses to make modifications for reopening under state COVID-19 guidelines.

The order bypasses the necessary site plan review to make changes such as the addition of outdoor restaurant seating or accommodating social distancing in other types of business. It also allows for items as simple as additional signage that normally would not be allowed without review. Limited outdoor table service is now allowed, but some restaurants are indoor-only and must make modifications to serve outdoors.

Under the order, property owners must hold the town harmless from any liability for the modifications and must obtain any necessary approval from other governmental agencies.

Businesses must provide the town with liquor license numbers if applicable.

Applicants must provide a brief description and sketch of the modifications and a copy of the state Business Safety Plan as required under the phased reopening. Changes are temporary and will expire on October 31 or sooner if a full reopening is allowed by state authorities.

“We’re going into this with an open mind to help all businesses,” McKenna said.

Donald Allen, a former member of the Woodstock Planning and Zoning boards and retired Kingston deputy fire chief, has agreed to review the applications and work with the Building Department.

“I’ve dubbed him my economic reopening czar,” McKenna said.

The application to make modifications under the emergency order is available at the town’s Facebook page or by contacting the supervisor’s office at (845) 679-2113, ext. 17 or supervisor@woodstockny.org.

New Paltz suspends regulations 

New Paltz town supervisor Neil Bettez says he can’t wait to have a beer. He signed the same standard emergency declaration as McKenna and others did to enable the process to move forward. “People have to have the start of a sense of normalcy, or we’re not going to last through the next year,” which is how long Bettez expects pandemic-related restrictions to exist. Bettez had been specifically authorized by the town board to sign anything necessary to that end.

How long might it take to process these two-page applications for temporary outdoor seating? Bettez has asked the town building inspectors temporarily to stop enforcing such site-plan conditions. “My goal is not to stand in anybody’s way.”

Establishments that already have available seating can be opened for outside dining, provided that the owner has prepared state-mandated reopening plans that comply with social distancing and other requirements. For other businesses, proximity to usable public land determines how much seating can be made available. Being near a municipal parking lot is a fortunate position at the moment. As well as the three county lots in Kingston, there’s a village parking lot in New Paltz where picnic tables borrowed from the Ulster County Fairgrounds have been set up in sight of a busy intersection.

Saugerties uses giant scissors

In Saugerties, the parking lot for Reis Insurance at the intersection of Main and Market streets makes it possible to sit and enjoy local fare. As with the New Paltz arrangement, the Saugerties site evokes the array of choices available in the shopping-mall food courts of old. Here, the tables used are village government property. Saugerties Chamber of Commerce chair Mark Smith even organized a ribbon-cutting last Wednesday for the space, with both town supervisor Fred Costello and village mayor Bill Murphy wielding giant scissors.

What could be a lasting effect of these temporary changes is the realization that it is indeed possible to make changes quickly through government. “We are able to have these conversations now that we never could before,” marveled Bettez. Village mayor Tim Rogers of New Paltz has observed that this troubled time is a moment when experimentation with new ideas has never been easier.