For your dining pleasure amid COVID-19, street closes in Kansas City’s Power & Light
Two blocks in the heart of the Power & Light District are expected to close starting Friday to provide more outdoor dining space during the coronavirus pandemic.
The move was made possible after the City Council voted unanimously Thursday to allow restaurants to apply for temporary permits to run “parklets” and sidewalk and street cafes to serve more customers while still under strict rules to limit the spread of the coronavirus, including spacing tables 10 feet apart. The council approved three pieces of legislation to make that happen, an effort to provide relief for restaurants hit hard by stay-at-home orders.
In a statement, Power & Light spokeswoman Rachel Waller said 14th Street would close between Main and Walnut streets and Walnut and Grand Boulevard. Traffic on Walnut will still be allowed through.
Waller said closing 14th Street would provide outdoor seating for such restaurants as Bristol Seafood + Steak + Social and The Dubliner.
“Blocking off 14th Street provides extra pedestrian space and room for additional restaurant operations while keeping safety and social distancing guidelines in mind,” Waller said, adding that Chipotle, Protein House, Whopper Bar and Insomnia can also use nearby patio space, such as the PNC Plaza on the north side of 14th Street.
In Kansas, the Leawood City Council adopted similar rules. Earlier this week, it granted City Administrator Scott Lambers the authority to issue expedited permits to restaurants wanting to expand or add outdoor seating. Lambers said the step was needed to help restaurants open up and implement social distancing restrictions, such as keeping tables six feet apart. Restaurants can apply for the permit at no cost.
Since mid-March, Kansas City area restaurants were limited to takeout and delivery orders. Suddenly without dining room revenue, businesses laid off and furloughed staff, contributing to record levels of unemployment.
Now, as Kansas City restaurants reopen, they’ll be allowed to apply for permits to operate sidewalk or street cafes in parking spaces in the public right-of-way. Another ordinance in the package eliminates required parking ratios so that adding tables in parking lots won’t throw restaurants off zoning requirements. They both allow restaurants to serve alcohol in their expanded dining area.
The third extends the period of time where the city will relax its enforcement of liquor rules to, in essence, allow for to-go cocktails.
Mayor Quinton Lucas sponsored the measure with Councilwoman Andrea Bough and Councilman Eric Bunch.
“You avoid all of the concerns with ventilation systems and if COVID is actually spreading within a facility,” Lucas said last week when the legislation was introduced. “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.”
The council’s Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee passed the legislation Wednesday. Members amended the ordinances Thursday to accelerate their effective date and add $1,000 to help spread the word.
Councilwoman Andrea Bough, 6th District at-large, who co-sponsored the legislation with Lucas and Councilman Eric Bunch, thanked the city staffers who worked on it and said council members wanted to see it go into effect as soon as possible.
“It’s involved numerous departments to get these three ordinances so that we can help our restaurants, taverns, eating establishments, drinking establishments and provide them some relief,” Bough said.
Before the Wednesday vote, the city’s Health Department, led by Rex Archer, told the committee in a letter that it was in “general support” of the changes, though it had not seen the most up-to-date version of the legislation.
“The concern that we have, is that the management of each restaurant will ensure customers, when seated, will have required spacing, as well as caution for non-seated customers visiting and conversing to those seated at the table,” the letter said.
The letter says the department “is still advising extreme caution for those who have high risk for complication related to COIVD-19” and those who live or work alongside high-risk individuals.
“These individuals should never be in public without masks; therefore, it is inadvisable for them to be seated at those tables,” the letter says.
The city’s guidance for patio seating says parties must be seated six feet apart, and the department said restaurants “should not have individuals loitering around tables.”
The Alcohol Beverage Advisory Group, which makes recommendations to the City Council, suggested several changes to the legislation Tuesday, including allowing the permits to run for seven months whether the city’s state of emergency is still in effect or not. That certainty, restaurateurs argued, allows eateries to plan. The city adopted that change.
The Star’s Joyce Smith and Sarah Ritter contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 5:34 PM with the headline "For your dining pleasure amid COVID-19, street closes in Kansas City’s Power & Light."
