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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 5/11/2021 - Memorandum From Brad Buckman, Seonah Kendall, Kyle Lambrecht Re: Issue From May 3, 2021 Lpt Meeting - Linden Street Outdoor Dining Engineering Department 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 970.221.6605 970.221.6378 - fax fcgov.com/engineering Planning, Development & Transportation MEMORANDUM DATE: May 6, 2021 TO: Mayor Arndt and City Councilmembers THRU: Darin Atteberry, City Manager Kyle Stannert, Deputy City Manager Caryn Champine, Director of PDT Dean Klingner, Deputy Director of PDT FROM: Brad Buckman, Interim City Engineer SeonAh Kendall, City Recovery Manager Kyle Lambrecht, Civil Engineer III RE: Issue from 5-2-21 LPT Meeting Linden Street Outdoor Dining The purpose of this memo is to provide a response to the following issue raised at the 5-3-2021 LPT Meeting: Mayor Pro Tem Gorgol asked about whether the extended outdoor dining along Linden Street can be continued based on the request made by area business owners. Summary: Outdoor dining with liquor sales is currently reliant on the local Emergency Declaration and a special exception to State liquor laws that is set to expire on Oct 31st. The City is currently conducting a survey to better understand how to transition the outdoor dining to a long-term model. For Linden Street, the new design will accommodate outdoor dining but maybe not in the same way as currently implemented. The team is evaluating design changes based on feedback from Linden Street business owners. General update on outdoor dining: City staff has worked closely with affected business owners on outdoor dining issues since summer of 2020. The number of total outdoor permits approved is as follows: Number of approved outdoor permits - 49 Number of approved permits that are in the ROW - 32 Number of approved permits that are on private property 17 Number of approved permits on Linden Street 8 We have liquor license approval for alcohol use in the approved outdoor dining spaces. The current liquor license approval is good until October 31, 2021. However, the Declaration of Local Emergency is the basis for the patio dining allowances, and the Declaration could end if deemed appropriate by the state and local health officials based on the status of the pandemic. City staff is currently conducting a survey with the affected businesses to ask questions regarding their desire for outdoor dining moving forward. This survey explores potential design guidelines and process improvements to the initiative as well. We will use the results of the survey to plan out our strategy for the rest of this year. If there is desire to keep the status of the outdoor dining initiative throughout the summer season, it will be discussed with respect to the Declaration of Local Emergency. The Linden Street project is currently in construction for the preliminary phases, with improvements currently being made at the Linden and Jefferson intersection. While improvements at the Linden and Walnut intersection were completed in April, the Linden and Jefferson improvements are due to be completed by May 7, and then revisiting final items on Linden/Walnut the week of May 17. City staff is currently working with the contractor (KCI) and coordinating with businesses and the DDA on timing for the final phase of construction. Next Steps: City staff to review survey results in May and get feedback from business owners on outdoor dining, and specifically the Linden Street businesses with respect to the final phase of the project and potential design modifications that could better accommodate outdoor dining needs. City staff (Engineering and Economic Health) will collaborate with the DDA on these next steps, and will update the Mayor and City Councilmembers on June 15 with a Staff Report on the Linden Street project.