News

By Jane Smith

Downtown Delray Beach restaurants that want to have sidewalk cafes on public property now have amended rules to follow.
City commissioners decided Nov. 10 that Atlantic Avenue restaurants east of the Intracoastal Waterway with a 6-foot pedestrian path could have tables along the curb and along the storefront. The city’s engineering department had said restaurants have to choose one, but planning staff said the eateries could have both.
West of the waterway, along Atlantic Avenue, restaurants need a 7-foot-wide path to be able to place tables along the curb and the storefront.  
No tables will be allowed on Second Avenue where Gary Rack’s Fat Rooster and The Office previously had sidewalk tables. “There are too many people there all of the time,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said at the workshop. “There are people lining up to get into the restaurants, people stopping to chat with diners.” Plus, the Second Avenue sidewalk sits next to a travel lane where there is no barrier between the road and the tables, he said.
“Up until two weeks ago, we had six tables out there (on Southeast Second Avenue),” Nic Henderson, general manager of Fat Rooster, said in mid-November. He referred further explanation to Gary Rack, restaurant owner, who could not be reached.
The Office also had tables on Northeast Second Avenue where it did not have the required 6-foot clearance. The restaurant had applied for a waiver but was denied. A manager directed questions to its parent corporation, BurgerFi, in North Palm Beach. But no one there could be reached for comment.
Also, the commission decided staff could not enforce the ordinance on private property.
Michael Coleman, Community Improvement director who oversees the code enforcement workers, had sought direction from the commission. His staff was caught between the looser restrictions of the planning staff and the stricter interpretations of the engineering staff.
Restaurants pay a $150 annual fee and $4.75 per square foot to have a sidewalk café.         “We work with the owners to get a solution,” Coleman said. “The ordinance calls for a 6-foot clearance, but some restaurants have only 5-feet-plus because of trees or power poles on their sidewalks. We will work with them.”
He tells his staff to use discretion and common sense when working with the restaurant owners to enforce the sidewalk café ordinance.
In the nearly 12 months he’s run the department, his code enforcement team has not cited a restaurant.
“We want to create a safe place for all people to be able to enjoy the downtown and allow the restaurant owners to make money,” Coleman said.