Coast Highway 101 restaurants and other Encinitas eateries that were allowed to build temporary outdoor dining areas on public roadways and private parking lots during the COVID-19 pandemic can keep them for at least another two years, and probably permanently, the Encinitas City Council decided Wednesday, Dec. 20.
The council voted 4-1, with Councilmember Bruce Ehlers opposed, to continue allowing the outdoor eating areas on a temporary basis until July 1, 2026, and directed city employees to craft an ordinance that would make these temporary areas permanent. Also, city employees were asked to put together a fee system, so the city can soon start charging rent for the ones that have been built on parking spots in the public road right-of-way.
Prior to the vote, permission to have the spots was set to expire Jan. 1.
Ehlers said he ed much of the council’s motion, but voted against it because he wanted to limit the number of temporary outdoor eating spots that are allowed to became permanent on downtown’s Coast Highway 101 where vehicle parking spaces are in short supply.
“Bottom line is, I think we need to protect that parking,” he said.
of the council majority said that there was a great deal of benefit to having the roadside dining spots in downtown. Councilmember Joy Lyndes said the eating areas brought more vitality to the area, while Councilmember Kellie Hinze said that having people dining on what had previously been parking spots was a “higher and better use of our public space.” Mayor Tony Kranz agreed with them.
“My goal, frankly, is to use public space for people’s enjoyment not to store cars,” he said
Encinitas, along with many other California cities, initially eased its regulations regarding parking space use in spring 2020 to help struggling restaurants cope with pandemic-related limitations on indoor dining. The city also reworked its alcohol sales restrictions so restaurants could provide beer and wine with takeout orders and delivery meals. Encinitas currently does not charge a fee to use the right-of-way areas as dining spots. The city of San Diego charges a fee and Carlsbad is in the process of doing so, a city staff report notes.
Before their vote Dec. 20, council heard from nearly two dozen public speakers. While the speakers were roughly evenly divided between proponents and opponents, the majority of the people in the audience appeared to the outdoor dining areas and loudly applauded the speakers who backed that view.
People who spoke in favor of keeping the temporary eating areas included several restaurant owners, their employees and some patrons.
David Creviston, one of the owners of The Bier Garden Encinitas, said his temporary eating area is “the first place people sit and the place they enjoy most” at his restaurant, while Doug Sondomowicz, co-owner of the Encinitas Fish Shop, said his restaurant only survived the pandemic because it had a temporary outdoor dining space. If the council eliminated it now, he would likely have to lay off a third of his employees, he said.
People who spoke in opposition included the owners of several non-restaurant businesses in the city’s downtown. They said they had ed the restaurants’ use of the parking spots back when COVID hit, but now it was time for the restaurants to give the spots back because the shortage of parking is hurting their businesses.
Not doing so “allows only one business to prosper,” said Niko Sougias, owner of Charlie’s Foreign Car Service and Charlie’s Electric Bike.
One item that both proponents and opponents agreed on was that the orange bunkers that protect the temporary eating spots on the road rights-of-way are downright ugly and desperately need a makeover. Council agreed and said that ought to be included in the effort to make the spots permanent.
