Dining in parking lots? Kansas City eyes ‘street cafe’ plan for coronavirus safety
Kansas City restaurant tables could spill into sidewalks and parking lots to provide more room for socially distanced patrons under a proposal introduced to the City Council Thursday.
Mayor Quinton Lucas, Councilman Eric Bunch and Councilwoman Andrea Bough are co-sponsoring three pieces of legislation to let restaurants:
▪ Apply for “parklet” or street cafe permits and serve alcohol outside.
▪ Waive parking requirements so restaurants can use that space for more seating.
▪ Allow to-go cocktails as other jurisdictions have done.
Lucas said the “transformative” idea was friendly to both public health and business interests. He said when he and the city’s health director, Rex Archer, discussed reopening businesses, they remarked that allowing people to dine outside would help with social distancing.
“You avoid all of the concerns with ventilation systems and if COVID is actually spreading within a facility,” Lucas said. “You avoid that issue where staff and others may be breaking into that … six feet space. And instead, you actually cure a lot of our business concerns.”
A widely cited but limited study of a restaurant in China found one carrier of the coronavirus who had no symptoms and went out to eat. The diner infected others at the same table and two others seated more than six feet away, possibly aided by the restaurant’s air conditioning system.
The cafe proposal comes as Kansas City restaurants prepare to reopen their dining rooms, which Lucas ordered closed in mid-March to limit the spread of coronavirus. They can open Friday so long as they follow regulations, including spacing tables 10 feet apart and requiring servers to wear masks.
James Westphal, managing partner of BeerKC Restaurant Group, which owns three Westport restaurants, said the street cafe concept would be most beneficial to smaller venues such as his Beer Kitchen.
The long and narrow space, at the corner of Westport Road and Pennsylvania Avenue, can only seat a maximum of 42 people under the new guidelines, when it could hold up to 122 people under normal conditions. And it doesn’t have outdoor seating.
“Service businesses doing 25% or 50% of their revenue, that formula is not going to work,” he said.
So he is waiting to reopen Beer Kitchen when dining room capacity is allowed to increase, or the street cafe proposal is approved.
“But there are variables at play. Will I have to get extra tables? Will I have enough employees coming back that they can serve that area? Will enough customers return to Westport?” he said.
One of his other restaurants, Mickey’s Hideaway, has a large deck fronting Westport Road with an occupancy of 110 people both seated and standing, but under the social distancing guidelines it could hold up to 42.
Lucas’ latest coronavirus rules, issued under emergency declaration, also ban bar and buffet service. Workers and patrons who are exhibiting coronavirus symptoms must be turned away. Frequently touched surfaces, such as door handles, must be sanitized every 90 minutes, and restaurants are also encouraged to use throwaway menus.
Restaurants and other businesses where patrons may sit down for more than 10 minutes, such as hair salons, are also encouraged to keep records of clients they have served to help with contact tracing in the event coronavirus spreads among patrons and staff.
All three ordinances are expected to be heard in committee meetings next week. The council also unanimously approved a resolution urging city staffers to expedite approvals for the street cafes and be lenient on design requirements.
Lucas said if there aren’t traffic problems or other major hiccups caused by the street cafes, they could stick around even after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We talk often in this city about how we can better engage with the public realm,” Lucas said, “how you can actually utilize your streets, your sidewalks, all the building designs we have, your parking lots … to make a city that is more pedestrian friendly, more inviting to someone.”
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 3:35 PM.
