Council reviews clarification of sidewalk code

KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Common Council members are working to clear up the city sidewalk café code to include language that would include enforcement of outdoor dining arrangements that are setup in parking lots and driveways.

The changes were discussed during a Laws and Rules Committee meeting Monday, with city Complete Streets Advisory Council Vice Chairwoman Kristen Wilson saying the provision was added after determining that food vendors could set up outside without a site plan as long it isn’t a sidewalk.

“The impetus for this came from the Building Department and the Fire Department,” she said.

City Safety Division Dep. Chief Tom Tiano said the change would allow advanced notice to be provided through a permit process.

“The current regulations only pertain to sidewalks,” he said. “So if somebody wanted to set up in the street or parking lot we don’t have any control over it ... This will give us the authority to regulate how they set up and make sure that they maintain enough space.”

Wilson said among concerns was making sure people would not be seating in the line of moving traffic.

“It needed to be enforced where putting cafes in mini-parking lots or in the street, and that’s problematic because now you have a place where people are sitting and cars ... could drive right into a seated café,” she said.

Other proposed changes to the code include provisions on planting trees. Included would be requiring a 3x5-foot planting pit, having trees separated by at least 30 feet, keeping trees at least 15 feet from a fire hydrant, and maintaining a pedestrian walking area of at least four feet.

The changes in tree requirements would also regulate the material used in a planting pits and makes recommendations for the type of concrete used for sidewalks near the pits.

“In areas of newly constructed concrete sidewalk with existing adjacent trees or that will have newly planted trees, permeable concrete pavement shall be used where practicable, for a minimum of five linear feet in each direction from the center of the tree,” officials wrote.