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The Danville Town Council is set to debate the past, present and future of the town’s current downtown parklet program for local restaurants in a study session Tuesday and weigh the options for the program ahead of its upcoming expiration at the start of next year.
Like those in many communities, restaurants in Danville had the option of obtaining temporary land-use permits allowing for expanded outdoor dining at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022.
In 2022, the Town Council voted to amend the Downtown Business District Ordinance to allow for a two-year extension of expanded outdoor dining subject to development standards and guidelines from the town and other conditions.
As it stands, the temporary ordinance amendment is set to expire on Jan. 2 if the council takes no action on the matter, which would require the removal of all on-street parklets and the reduction of outdoor seating.
The council will also consider extending the current program with or without modifications until a later date, such as requiring structures to be re-stained or re-painted and/or requiring landscape improvements according to a staff report from chief of planning David Crompton.
A total of five downtown restaurants currently have on-street parklets, with at least 10 downtown restaurants hosting expanded outdoor dining, Crompton wrote.
The owners of six of those restaurants – Harvest, Cocina Hermanas, Danville Brewing, Pete’s Brass Rail, Bungalow on Rose and Primo’s – urged the council to instead consider a more permanent program to accommodate continued outdoor dining downtown in a joint letter received by the town ahead of the upcoming meeting.
“On behalf of our five downtown restaurants, we ask that the Town create a semi-permanent parklet program,” downtown restaurant owners wrote. ” All five parklets are already in compliance with guidelines created by the Town from 2022. If additional guidelines are required to make these semi-permanent, we welcome a constructive discussion to meet those needs.”
However, not all downtown business owners support the program as it stands.
“I would LOVE to have additional free outdoor seating and be able to build a covered structure in the road like other restaurants have been allowed to do,” Blossom and Root owner Susan Virgilio wrote in another written comment received ahead of the meeting. “I park in the Lunardi’s employee section when I go to work and I walk past the several parking spaces long seating area of Danville Brewing and am not a little jealous.”
Virgilio added that she had looked into converting parking spaces into an outdoor seating area when first looking for a site for her restaurant prior to 2020, but found that the cost was prohibitive at the time.
“This would have cost me tens of thousands of dollars which other restaurants were not required to pay for their additional seating,” Virgilio wrote.
She added that developing outdoor dining areas should either be “free for everyone, or everyone needs to be purchasing the spaces like would have been required of me.”
The Danville Town Council is set to meet at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday (Oct. 8). The agenda is available here.
In other business, the council is set to discuss a progress report on the Downtown Master Plan Catalyst Project, downtown holiday decorations, preparations for the Mayor’s Installation and Community Service Awards, and upgrades to audio video technology in the town offices.
Quite honestly, I hope they get rid of the parklets. They take up needed parking spaces, but more importantly, they’re ugly reminders of the Covid mess. Why should one restaurant get to use up the parking spaces in front of their restaurant to increase their business, all while pushing their customers onto other restaurants’ and businesses’ parking spaces? Get rid of them now.