Columbus extends outdoor dining program
Columbus is extending an outdoor dining program that lets restaurants and bars use on-street parking and parking lots as patio seating.
The pilot program began in the summer of 2020, and was first extended in February. The second extension will last through Nov. 14.
The program lets bars and restaurants temporarily expand their patios, and greatly reduces the approval time for such additional seating.
Some limits exist. For example, restaurants must put a buffer between onstreet dining spaces and car traffic, and can use no more than a fourth of their parking spaces for additional seating. Tents erected around outdoor seating must have two open sides for ventilation.
Outdoor dining limits
“The successful pilot supports the industry, our economy, and the health and well-being of our community as we continue to fight this virus,” Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said in a statement.
Columbus bars and restaurants, along with the Ohio Restaurant Association, lobbied the city to expand outdoor dining in the summer of 2020, when fears of COVID infection hurt restaurant sales and greatly heightened demand for outside seating.
As of Thursday, 12 Columbus restaurants had on-street dining, and 24 added seating in their parking lots, according to city figures.
Columbus restaurateurs and bar owners praised the extension.
Every extra seat helps, said Wolf's Ridge Brewing co-founder Bob Szuter. The pilot program gave Wolf 's Ridge the ability to set up seating in an alley adjacent to the brewery's Downtown taproom.
While business is better than it was a year ago, sales have not risen back to
pre-pandemic levels, Szuter said.
“We're still down 30 to 40% for onpremise business, and we've taken on a lot of debt,” he said. The brewery received paycheck protection and disaster loans.
Between the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus, and cities and business re-imposing mask mandates, “there's a lot of different things happening to make it difficult right now,” said Szuter, adding that he supports the Columbus mask mandate because it helps stem the spread of COVID.
Collin Castore, co-founder of Antiques on High in German Village and Seventh Son Brewing in Italian Village, was one of the foremost advocates for the expansion of outdoor dining at the height of the pandemic last year.
He said neither bar has been able to add additional outdoor seating because of the program's restrictions, but is grateful that other bars and restaurants will be able to serve customers outside.
“No matter your stance on vaccines (or masks), I think everyone agrees it's pretty nice to be able to go outside and drink a beer, especially in fall weather,” he said. pcooley@dispatch.com @Patrickacooley