Selectmen: In-Street Outdoor Dining Was Never Meant To Stay

It was never the town’s intention to make permanent the plastic water-filled barriers that protected restaurant patrons sitting in the street as part of downtown New Canaan’s outdoor dining season, officials said Tuesday.

In fact, town officials “were always trying to get to the point where we didn’t have those plastic barriers up,” according to Selectman Steve Karl.

“So I think it’s important that people remember that, and know that New Canaan is going to look great this summer,” Karl said during the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

He continued: “It’s going to be functioning and you’re not going to see those barriers out there. And it’s unfortunate that there are a couple of restaurants that aren’t going to have it… But that was always part of the original plan.”

Made during a section of the meeting dedicated to general matters before the town, Karl’s comments come as news has spread about a change in this year’s outdoor dining season, which kicks off May 1. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the town has not only provided wider sidewalks on some parts of Elm Street, allowing restaurants located on them to expand their outdoor dining, but also allowed restaurants where sidewalks haven’t been widened to expand with tables in the street, protected by large barriers.

In the case of one business that will be affected by the change, Rosie, an online petition has circulated, calling for the town to reverse its position about tables in the street (Rosie’s summer seating took up two parking spaces). The petition has garnered 400-plus signatures online.

First Selectman Dionna Carlson added that the bumpouts “were actually a function of a resident who complained to the DOJ about ADA accessibility.”

“So those bumpouts were created to help gain back some extra spaces that were lost as a result of that, of those resident complaints,” she said. “And it’s not like anybody was chosen over anyone else. It’s just a function of where they’re located. If you notice they’re in crosswalks.”

Seconding what Karl said, Carlson said that town officials “have to balance the needs of the retailers and the restaurants, and we need to get some of that parking back.”

She added that the head of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce “went around all the business owners that were going to be affected and spoke to them directly about the barricades not being put out there again this summer.”

“And I think everyone but one I think was fine,” she said, adding that “we can’t provide parking for individual businesses in town, because businesses change and it has to be an overall plan for the community, not for one specific business.”