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After years of heated debates regarding the future of the outdoor dining sheds, which were born out of the necessities of the pandemic, New York City officials have finally released the program’s permanent guidelines.
Dubbed "Dining Out NYC,” the program most notably re-evaluates the way outdoor eateries have functioned until now: the sheds are now required to be open-air, easily moveable and wheelchair accessible, featuring a drainage system alongside barriers and meet certain size requirements. They will all need to shut down nightly by midnight as well.
The revamped sheds will also have a yearly lifespan: eateries will now only be allowed to have them up from April until the end of November—hence their movability: staff will have to be able to easily take them down during colder months.
Restaurants, will, however, still be permitted to serve food to tables set up on the sidewalk all throughout the year.
As for comments regarding the spaces occupied by the sheds, which have been taking away from the already-limited amount of parking spots around the city, critics will be glad to know that the structures will no longer be allowed to take over metered parking spots. They will, instead, be relegated to loading zones.
Pedestrians can worry less about the shacks as well—the guidelines note specific dimensions to maintain clear walkways for New Yorkers strolling by the eateries.
The new set of rules will officially go into effect next month, on March 3, when restaurants can start applying for outdoor licenses. By summer, all former structures will have to be taken down and replaced by new ones abiding by the just-announced directives.
As mentioned by Mayor Eric Adams in a statement, the endeavor joins a roster of policies meant to completely revamp the way the city’s outdoor spaces have been dealt with in recent years, indirectly addressing many issues that New Yorkers have been complaining about, including garbage disposal approaches and ease of commuting.
“Between Dining Out NYC, our campaign to get trash bags off of New York City streets, our efforts to remove scaffolding that has been up for far too long, and the hundreds of millions we’re investing in public realm projects across the city, we’re fundamentally transforming what it feels like to be outside in New York,” said the politician.
Spring in NYC is about to look and feel much different than it has in some time.