PLYMOUTH, Mich. – The controversy surrounding proposed rule changes to Downtown Plymouth’s outdoor dining rules may come to a head Monday night as the city commission meets. Business owners are expected to attend that meeting in force.
Plymouth is preparing to update its outdoor dining ordinance, and some of the ideas being floated were simply nonstarters for restaurant owners.
Restaurants currently pay $1.50 per square foot of patio dining space, but city officials want to change that ordinance and have proposed going up to $15 per square foot.
Local 4 spoke to business owners last month who said that cost would be prohibitive, to the point where the owner of The Sardine Room said,
It seems like it would be more viable to have outdoor dining open at that cost.
The other item under consideration would change to a setback from six to nine feet. But restaurant owners said they’ve already spent tens of thousands of dollars building those patios and that losing three feet would hurt.
City officials have said they don’t want to end patio dining but that they do want uniformity and to be in compliance with ADA standards.
It does appear that that initial idea of charging $15 a foot is off the table, but it’s not clear what the final number we’ll be.
The meeting is on Monday (Aug. 7) night at 7 p.m. at Caster Park.
Read: Could rift between city officials, Downtown Plymouth restaurants put outdoor dining in jeopardy?
