Modesto restaurants expanding outdoor dining while city still mulls policies to help
While it might seem as simple as throwing out some chairs and popping open an umbrella, expanding outdoor seating in Stanislaus County comes with risk and legal complications for area restaurants.
Still for many the rewards and increased capacity are helping them make up for the rollback of inside dining again due to a surge of COVID-19 infections across the county and much of the state. The good news is there is help to navigate how to safely create outdoor seating, and hopefully more is on the way.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has made operating for area businesses a roller coaster of shutdowns, new rules, strict requirements, reopenings and now shutdowns again. Keeping up with all the changing state guidance and regulations at times seems like it requires an advanced degree. But for the area’s small and largely family owned restaurants, it has become business as usual.
“It’s been overwhelming to say the least,” said Nayeli Vazquez, whose family has owned Taqueria Mis Compadres since 1996. “After this pandemic I’d say we’ve seen it all and we’re ready for everything. It’s been a roller coaster of emotions, not knowing what tomorrow will bring. But the key is to stay positive and learn to adapt.”
The family’s restaurant on Sylvan Avenue just off Oakdale Road in north Modesto set up a large outdoor dining space soon after Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the county, and 18 others, to shutter dining rooms again because of the uncontrolled spike in infections. Still, before they just moved tables outside, they contacted the city and their landlord for approval. Now they have a canopied area that can accommodate about 50 guests, which is equivalent to their capacity when they reopened inside last month with social distancing measures.
For businesses in the city center, the Downtown Modesto Partnership is helping them safely claim sidewalk space. Unlike restaurants in outlying areas, most downtown eateries need to encroach on public walkways or parking spaces to be able to expand seating outside. For some outlying restaurants, a call to the landlord is all it takes for approval. DoMo Partnership CEO Josh Bridegroom has worked with about 20 of downtown’s 55 restaurants to help them set up outdoor spaces and reduce their liability.
The main factors are complying with ADA laws, ABC regulations and fire codes, Bridegroom said. The most critical of which are:
- Maintaining 48-inch clearance on sidewalks.
- Installing a 41-inch high barrier around seating areas.
- Keeping 36-inch clearance between entry/exits to businesses.
Bridegroom said he hopes the city comes through soon with its own official guidelines to help restaurants navigate how to make outdoor dining safe and enjoyable for everyone.
“If there is no review of outdoor dining everyone is at higher liability level, including the city,” he said, noting businesses could be sued otherwise or lose permits.
Modesto Director of Community & Economic Development Jaylen French said that policy is in the works, but still not ready. The city had been preparing plans that would offer guidance on how restaurants can safely use public area for outside dining for a while now. But they were never completed and then put on the back burner when the county’s restaurants were allowed to reopen dining rooms last month.
The plan, called the Open Air program, will have to be approved by either the city manager, mayor or full council to be adopted, he said. No date has been set yet for completion, but he promised it was coming “soon.” But, let’s be honest, how helpful those plans will be relies entirely on how quickly they come. The coronavirus clearly has its own timeline and moves much faster than the pace of government.
French and Bridegroom said there have been discussions of allowing parklets and other creative alternatives to open up more seating in public areas, particularly downtown. DoMo has even mocked up a parklet design. But they don’t have the materials or resources to help turn them into a reality yet.
As cities large and small grapple with how to best slow the spread of the virus while allowing for restaurants to remain open and profitable, outside dining has boomed across the country. We’ve seen it in New York and San Francisco and places all between. Sure, here in the Central Valley we also have to deal with the blast-furnace heat of the summer. But if the people I’ve seen happily sitting outside on weekend nights in newly expanded patios are any indication, the will to eat a nice steak in 100-degree weather is strong here.
For restaurant owners, and their customers, any help is welcome. Businesses want to follow the rules, so let’s help make them easier to understand especially during this unprecedented time of change, confusion and concern. Otherwise, we’ll see more places go rogue and potentially encounter more problems.
Until then, family owned restaurants like Vazquez’s Taqueria Mis Compadres will do their best.
“You need to adapt, you can’t fight any of this and there’s no point in being angry,” she said. “You have to always see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
