FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 24, 2004
CONTACT: RACHAELE
RAYNOFF, PRESS SECRETARY (212) 720-3471, fax: (212)
720-3219
City Planning Commission
Votes to Relax Restrictions
on Outdoor Dining in Manhattan with
New Small Sidewalk Café Proposal Designed
to Enliven Neighborhoods
March 24, 2004 – The City Planning Commission
(CPC) voted to approve a proposal to enliven Manhattan
sidewalks with a new category of "small sidewalk
cafés", CPC Chair Amanda M. Burden announced
today. The proposal by the Department of City Planning
to increase the number of places where patrons might
enjoy outdoor dining in the small sidewalk cafes now
goes to the City Council for final approval.
"City Planning’s Small Sidewalk Café Proposal
will enrich the vitality of the city’s street
life and we hope that it will be approved and adopted
by the City Council in time for the warmer months," said
Ms. Burden, who is also Director of the Department
of City Planning (DCP). She noted that the smaller
unenclosed cafes that hug the side of a building are "real
urban amenities that, carefully sited, will add to
the vitality of neighborhoods without interfering with
pedestrian movement." And Ms. Burden credited
local community boards with working with DCP to identify
the most promising areas for the new small sidewalk
cafes.
The proposal calls for permitting exclusively small sidewalk
cafes on selected streets where sidewalk cafes are not
allowed to operate today. The new small sidewalk cafes
will permit a single row of tables and chairs within
a maximum width of 4-1/2 feet, leaving a minimum sidewalk
clearance of at least 8 feet. Sidewalk widths and pedestrian
volumes were considered in selecting streets appropriate
for small sidewalk cafes.
Compared to the other boroughs, there are a disproportionate
number of streets and neighborhoods in Manhattan that
are restricted from having unenclosed sidewalk cafes.
Among these: Chinatown, SoHo, Union Square, Midtown,
most major crosstown streets south of 96th Street as
well as avenues including Third, Lexington and Madison
Avenues.
Small sidewalk cafes would be permitted in many of
these areas, with the exceptions of major transit hubs
and areas with high volumes of pedestrian traffic or
curbside deliveries.
Among the areas to benefit from the proposed zoning
text change:
- Major crosstown streets and avenues south
of 34th Street
- Selected side streets and avenues in Midtown
- Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side
- Resurgent retail areas in Upper Manhattan
including Lexington, Park and Madison Avenues north
of 96th Street as well as on West 116th Street
- Orchard and Delancey Streets and St. Marks
Place on the Lower East Side
- Selected streets in SoHo
Like the larger cafes permitted elsewhere, the small
sidewalk cafes would be subject to regulation and enforcement
by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), which must
approve their licensing and permitting. To utilize the
city sidewalks for sidewalk cafes, restaurateurs must
apply to the DCA. Each sidewalk café application
will be subject to discretionary review by the affected
community board, DCA and City Council.
DCP’s proposed revision in the zoning text to permit small sidewalk
cafes is nearing the end of the formal public review process, having been approved
by the CPC, the affected community boards, and the Manhattan Borough President.
It now goes to the City Council for final approval.
For more information including maps of proposed areas
where the small sidewalk cafes would be permitted,
please visit the Proposal
section of www.nyc.gov/planning.
About City Planning:
The Department of City Planning is responsible for the
City's physical and socioeconomic planning, including
land use and environmental review; preparation of plans
and policies; and provision of technical assistance and
planning information to government agencies, public officials,
and community boards.
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