Don’t fence me in

Plans move forward with the Streatery outdoor dining expansion plan

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In a move designed to expand the capacity of restaurants while COVID-19 health restrictions are in place, the city of Madison recently hatched its “Streatery” plan, which makes it easier for a restaurant to serve diners outdoors, in a larger space than would normally be allowed.

The Streatery Restaurant Recovery Program lets restaurants expand their outdoor dining space onto public sidewalks, on-street parking areas, and privately owned parking lots with permission. 

Another arm of the program is geared toward limiting vehicular traffic in certain blocks to facilitate more dining space. The administrative approval process for all the expanded outdoor spaces is to be streamlined and the city is waiving the usual fees for sidewalk cafes for 2020.

The plan was announced May 28, just two days before protests sparked by the death of George Floyd and ensuing unrest and vandalism turned much of downtown Madison — a restaurant-heavy area — into a lumberyard of plywood.

Nonetheless, the plan is moving forward, for restaurants both downtown and in other areas of the city, says Madison street vending coordinator Meghan Blake-Horst. Restaurant owners are eager to start the process now, says Blake-Horst, so when they are ready to open outdoor seating, all the paperwork has been completed, seating plans drawn up and regulations satisfied. 

Just how much extra space can an eatery get for its streatery? That depends on where it is located. Most are limited in some way by their physical location, by such things as a driveway or neighboring business, says Blake-Horst. In some cases, a restaurant may borrow physical space from a neighbor with permission.

Because each restaurant’s location is different, the city will have to look at each physical setup to approve the parameters of each expansion.

In some tight quarters, there’s a larger plan to borrow street space on entire blocks, creating “cafe zones.” This does not mean that traffic is barred from the block — the only block that would likely be closed entirely to traffic is the 100 block of South Pinckney. On other blocks, bike and car access would remain, but space would be borrowed from city parking spaces.

Cafe zones include the 100 blocks of East Mifflin, East Main, West Main, South Carroll and South Pinckney streets (all blocks adjacent to the Capitol Square) and the 1900 block of Atwood Avenue (at Schenk’s Corners) in the angled parking in front of Alchemy and the Green Owl. 

Outdoor seating, as indoor, needs to be spaced 6 feet apart from the back of chair to back of chair. There can be no more than six persons, who must live in the same household, seated at the same table.

Groups of business owners from each block have met with the city to discuss plans for each block, and blocks are in the process of finalizing and submitting their ideas. “Everyone had their homework to do,” says Blake-Horst.

Michael Banas, co-owner of The Tipsy Cow, has been helping with the plan for the 100 block of East Main Street. He and other restaurant owners on East Main discussed how their block could look cohesive, “not just hodgepodge,” especially presenting a consistent look on the streetscape side. “We want to represent our block as businesses that are trying to look out for each other,” says Banas. To that end, the businesses on the block are planning to jointly rent one bicycle parking corral and coordinate on the look of the cafe area barriers. Because the bike lane and traffic to and from a privately owned parking ramp on that block will be maintained, the plan is for outdoor dining to expand into the street parking spaces for the entire block “and split up the space to whoever wants it.”

Banas notes that the restaurants on the 100 block are fairly small inside and have always relied on the extra space that the sidewalk gives them in summer. Expanding the patio space doesn’t mean he gains a lot of tables — “At most I might gain one or two tables outside,” he says — but without the plan to expand the patio space, he would have needed to decrease the number of tables outdoors by at least six to comply with the distancing rule of 6 feet between tables. 

Customers are generally going to feel more comfortable eating outside at this point, Banas feels, even if they do have to contend with the summer weather: “Given the choice between being a little sweaty and COVID-19, being a little sweaty isn’t so bad.” 

He warns that the idea of the cafe zone does not mean that a block is set up to be “a big party.” “It is meant to take a restaurant back [to the capacity] you were at before distancing.”

Like East Main, the 100 block of East Mifflin needs to remain open to vehicular traffic with a bike lane, access to a condo parking garage, trash pickup at the YWCA and curbside pickup at some restaurants. Dan Fox of Heritage Tavern says the city has been “super kind” but Heritage does not have a lot of space to work with; he says that the corner of Mifflin and Webster is also the site of one of downtown Madison’s famous and somewhat mysterious wind tunnels. His sister Amanda Fox, who also works at the restaurant, notes that expanding around the corner to Webster Street is problematic due to the slope of the sidewalk. Amanda says that some parking spaces across the street from Heritage may be in play, and the city will be moving some big planters to create more space.

“We are willing to be flexible,” says Blake-Horst. “We want to find a way for everyone to survive and thrive.”

The Streatery program will run until Oct. 25 or until restaurants are allowed to resume indoor dining at full capacity, whichever comes first.