Palm Desert looks to extend outdoor patio regulations for restaurants
Athena Jreij
PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ) – The city of Palm Desert is looking to extend it’s guidelines for outdoor dining patios, after public outcry to keep the additions.
Local restaurants have feared changes to the city’s regulations on the covid-era patios, as they neared a June 30th deadline.
“It makes a big impact on sales, on our servers and guests if we don’t have an outdoor patio when the weather’s beautiful, we don’t get a lot of action,” Kitchen 86 general manager Travis Morgan said.
After a city council meeting last week, city officials now say they’ll extend the guidelines for a year, while looking into more permanent regulations to keep the outdoor dining spaces.
“Existing compliant operators just have to resubmit application making sure that they’re going to continue to the exact same thing and get property owner approval on it,” Carlos Flores, Deputy Director of Development Services for Palm Desert said.
For some, it comes too late, with Kitchen 86’s patio one of the last standing on El Paseo.
“Last summer when they decided to do the construction, they used that opportunity to basically take all outdoor dining away. Mama Gina’s, Armando’s, Daily Grill, which again changed the whole face of El Paseo,” Morgan said.
Just down the street at Little Bar, owner Skip Paige says he’s facing new obstacles to renewing his permit.
Paige claims criteria passed in October now requires his landlord’s approval of the deck, making them financially responsible for any damage on the public property. It’s a barrier he worries could take away the beloved addition.
“They do have a permit and an agreement that they need to sign off on. There are terms within their in terms of liability if there is an incident or if there’s anything that their infrastructure does on our property,” Flores said.
Still, the city says public outcry is pushing them to find long-term solutions.