Road closings? Sidewalk shopping? NC cities look for ways to help businesses
As North Carolina enters the second phase of reopening, Triangle communities want to help restaurants and other businesses hurt by the coronavirus serve more people.
Raleigh is talking about expanding outdoor dining and closing streets so more people can eat and shop outside.
A petition asks Chapel Hill to limit right-hand traffic lanes on Franklin Street to bikes and pedestrians to give restaurants more outdoor seating space
And Downtown Durham Inc. is working with the city of Durham on making parks, plazas, on-street parking spaces, sidewalks and parking lots available to businesses as another place to sell their wares.
Street closings have been proposed across the nation, including in Denver, Colorado; Norfolk, Virginia; and Portland, Oregon.
N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper has announced the state can move Friday into the second phase of reopening, which allows restaurants to offer dine-in service at half their fire-code capacity, among other changes.
Raleigh considering options
The Raleigh City Council is debating relaxing rules temporarily to give restaurants and businesses better access to public spaces. Options include:
- Expanded sidewalk dining: Outdoor dining already allowed in parts of the city could extend to sidewalks in front of other storefronts that don’t need the space; for example a restaurant could use the sidewalk outside an attorney’s office next door if the office agrees. ABC permits would need to be revised.
- Parklets: Where sidewalks are narrow, parking spaces could be closed and instead used to create parklets for seating or sales racks. The city’s lengthy current process would need to be changed.
- Pedlets: Similar to parklets, pedlets push pedestrians into closed parking spaces usually with some sort of railing or barrier between the walkers and vehicles. The city would need to make sure this did not hurt curbside pick-up that some restaurants now depend on.
- Street closures: Closing streets, perhaps on weekends only, would allow more space, but would also require more city resources and run the risk of becoming a destination that draws crowds.
- Private property: Some businesses could use their private parking as extra vending or serving space. Any problems with parking minimums and other zoning issues would need to worked out.
Raleigh Transportation Director Michael Moore said any changes would apply throughout the city and have to adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Downtown Raleigh Alliance CEO and President Bill King hopes the City Council lets business owners pick what works best for them.
“What we are trying to get to is having as many of these businesses survive until we get to the other side of the crisis where life maybe returns to something closer to normal and we have more normal capacity and normal interactions ,” King said.
Council member Nicole Stewart asked for work to begin as soon as possible amid the challenges.
“We have got to be thinking about ADA,” Stewart said. “We’ve got to be thinking of public health and public safety. It is going to be crucial for us to act quickly and be flexible in working with our business owners across the city.”
When Mayor Pro Tem Corey Branch noted that both the N.C. Department of Transportation and the city maintain streets and rights-of-ways in Raleigh, Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said she’d contact the state.
“I think we should make this as easy as possible on (businesses),” she said. “I don’t think there should be permitting. I don’t think there should be another fee. The last thing these people need is another fee to deal with.”
Raleigh’s transportation director Michael Moore told him that the city is not planning to close any state-maintained roads in the downtown area, NCDOT Division 5 engineer Joey Hopkins said Thursday.
“He did say they’re looking at where their restaurants are physically located, and they think maybe there’s some options on the ones that are located on DOT-maintained streets,” Hopkins said. “Maybe there’s a wider sidewalk or adjacent parking lot, or something like that. They’re going to try to work with them as best they can.”
Chapel Hill petition, plans
The petition in Chapel Hill builds on several weeks of work behind the scenes, said Matt Gladdek, executive director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership. So far, it has over 530 signatures.
Chapel Hill’s small businesses and restaurants, especially those that rely on UNC students, took a big hit from the shutdown and loss of graduation and Mother’s Day sales, which support them through the long, slow summers.
Downtown’s successful businesses right now are bringing in only 30% of their normal sales, Gladdeck said. Some landlords are offering leasing flexibility, and the town has made parking free to encourage more people to patronize those businesses, he said.
The hope is that more federal money will be made available to small businesses who didn’t benefit from the Paycheck Protection Program or small business loans. The Independent Restaurant Association also has formed to help local restaurants.
Chapel Hill resident Mary Parry started the Feet on Franklin petition, which asks the Town Council to block right-hand traffic on both sides of Franklin Street so people can walk, bike and run in that space. Restaurants then could use all of the existing sidewalks for outdoor seating, she said.
Parry said she thought it would work well because many families are taking advantage of the low traffic volume to ride their bikes. The change also could help meet a town goal of bringing more families downtown, she said.
“I think we would pull people downtown who don’t normally go because they typically hop over to Durham or they have their other places — not downtown — that they go,” Parry said. “This might just be what we need to spark some extra business.”
The plan would also let stores sell merchandise on the sidewalk outside their businesses, Gladdeck said.
Some on-street parking would still be needed, because many restaurants use those spaces for curbside pickup. he said, but the Downtown Partnership could use paint and signs to designate pick-up areas.
The plan would need NCDOT to sign off on changing Franklin Street traffic, since it is a state highway.
Mike Mills, NCDOT engineer for Division 7, said while he might consider a temporary change in traffic for Chapel Hill, the town would have to pay for related traffic control expenses and show it can make the transition safely.
Chapel Hill and Carrboro already have traffic studies used to plan a reduction in the number of lanes on West Franklin Street, he said. NCDOT recently delayed that work, which was scheduled this summer to create more room for bicycles and buses, until next year.
The town is paying for those new markings and signals, he said, and also agreed “to address any complaints that are received due to this congestion that is expected to occur with this road diet.”
Meanwhile, the Downtown Partnership is asking the town to continue the free parking, make it easier to add outdoor seating and ease local sign limits, Gladdek said, as well as planning more marketing efforts. Another possibility, he said, is using the parking lots for special events.
“This is going to be a really bad time (for restaurants), but we have the possibility of being able to get by it if our local landlords are willing and able to work with them, if the customers come out and support them, and if the federal government comes and gives aid and supports both landlords and the businesses,” Gladdek said.
Easing alcohol sales
Statewide associations also are talking about how to help downtowns, restaurants and hotels.
Two bills now moving through the General Assembly would make it easier to serve alcohol as part of the outdoor dining experience, Gladdeck said.
“Alcohol sales are where a lot of the margin is that restaurants can stay open with and make some money,” he said. “There’s very, very low margins on food.”
This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 10:45 AM.
