Friday, November 8, 2024

Carolina Beach town council seeks to refine its sidewalk café regulations

Sidewalk cafes in Carolina Beach. (Port City Daily/File)

CAROLINA BEACH — The Carolina Beach town council is seeking to balance the public interest in outdoor dining options with orderly pedestrian traffic.

READ MORE: Restaurants want more space for sidewalk cafes on Carolina Beach Boardwalk

ALSO: Bars and nightclubs in Wilmington can now extend footprint into sidewalk cafes

At a Tuesday workshop, its four-member council and Mayor Lynn Barbee took up the issue of sidewalk cafes. The council addressed ambiguities in clean-up procedures, alcohol consumption regulation, and demarcations used to separate sidewalk cafes from pedestrian traffic.

Planning director Jeremy Hardison said that Carolina Beach permitted 13 sidewalk cafes in 2023, up from only one in 2006. Hardison told Port City Daily permits cost the businesses $500 annually and those that operated during the summer brought in $6,500 to the town.

“Everybody here is very supportive of these sidewalk cafes,” Barbee said. “I don’t think we’re trying to push them back in their space as much as we’re trying to clean this up.”

Current ordinances stipulate that sidewalk cafes on public land must allow for a minimum of 4 feet, 6 inches of area for unobstructed pedestrian travel. They must also not exceed more than one-quarter the width of the Boardwalk. Establishments on oceanfront boardwalks are an exception, allowed up to 6 feet in encroachments because they have a wider sidewalk.

The outdoor dining establishments can open at 7 a.m. each morning and must be closed by midnight. Outdoor objects — chairs, tables, barricades, stanchions, and platforms — must be taken back inside the eating or drinking establishment at closing time. The area of the sidewalk café is then reopened to the public and no longer considered part of the premises of the eating or drinking establishment.

Standardizing clean-up policy was a major subject of the discussion. Hardison said the town had experienced issues with some establishments keeping chairs and tables out overnight. He said town staff would continue to reinforce the midnight cleanup policy unless the council changed the rule.

The council discussed removal of outdoor objects to a single day of the week rather than every night. 

“‘Cause it is a lot of work,” Councilmember Jay Healy said. “Those tables are heavy.”

Hardison said he would discuss designating it with the department of public works and the technical review committee.

The council also talked about extending hours at which sidewalk cafes can remain open until 2 a.m. 

Barbee also suggested that town workers involved in cleanup duties need to be granted legal protection from any potential damage to business property.

“You leave your stuff out, we’re not responsible,” Barbee said. “We’ll do the best we can to move it clean and not hurt anything.”

Another main topic of the meeting was the use of stanchions to create physical barriers and designate boundaries. Healy argued the metal railings currently used are obtrusive and advocated for their replacement with medallions on the ground.

“It would definitely clean up downtown if we could get rid of that look,” Healy said. “That looks terrible.”

Barbee said medallions could remove ambiguity on sidewalk café boundaries, as pedestrians can move stanchions by bumping into them.

“They move a foot every night, it seems like,” Barbee said.

The City of Wilmington’s use of medallions in downtown is a potential model, he added but suggested reaching out to Alcohol Law Enforcement on whether it requires stanchions for outdoor alcohol consumption before moving forward on a medallion substitution.

The council spoke about reinforcing other rules regarding the outdoor consumption of alcohol, which is supposed to only occur while patrons are at their tables. Standing with an alcoholic beverage is considered a violation. No alcohol should be served after 11:30 p.m. and alcohol consumption after midnight is considered a violation.

Barbee also mentioned his desire to reduce outdoor seating space on corners. He used the corner of hot dog restaurant Nauti Dog as an example, arguing the tight area gets jammed during periods of high-volume pedestrian traffic.

“I personally would like to see the corner tables go away,” Barbee said. “It’s a zoo right there on firework night.”

The council reiterated their support for the outdoor dining establishments throughout the meeting.

“We’re talking about all the problems, but the benefits are huge,” Barbee said. “I think it gives a completely different vibe to things like firework night.”

Council and staff determined they would discuss concerns of the policy with business owners and the police department but did not vote to change any aspect of outdoor dining regulation at the meeting. Hardison said he would take the council’s recommendations to a technical review committee.


Tips or comments? Email journalist Peter Castagno at peter@localdailymedia.com.

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