Extended outdoor patios at Fort Collins restaurants could be here to stay
Count extended outdoor patios among the early-pandemic-era innovations that are probably here to stay.
Fort Collins staff are creating updated regulations to allow extended patios, a product of 2020 business occupancy restrictions, to stay open on an ongoing basis. Fort Collins City Council members had a positive reaction to the plan during discussion at their Tuesday work session.
After pandemic restrictions capped many businesses' indoor occupancy at 25% of capacity in 2020, the city issued an emergency order allowing businesses to expand their patios into the public right-of-way. Many businesses took the opportunity to create larger patio spaces on parking lots, on-street parking spaces and sidewalks, and over 25 remained as of early 2022.
Business owners and community members largely approved of the change, Fort Collins Policy and Project Manager Ginny Sawyer told council. Business owners tended to appreciate the opportunity to host more customers despite occupancy caps, and community members said the patios gave Old Town a renewed sense of vibrancy.
A city survey of local businesses in 2021 found that 64% of 37 responding businesses supported sidewalk patios being made permanent, and 42% supported patios in parking areas being made permanent.
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Given the positive feedback, city leaders want to continue the program while accounting for potential issues posed by extended patios. A longer-term permit program will require some minor code changes, Sawyer said, and staff are creating a guidance document to regulate the patios.
Among the requirements being considered:
- Extended patios must maintain a clear 7-foot pedestrian walkway on sidewalks and keep pedestrian traffic within 10 feet of storefronts.
- Patios can't be wider than the business' building.
- Patios must maintain access to accessible parking spaces, ramps, benches and bike racks.
- Patios must meet certain standards related to building, fire and stormwater codes.
Council members said they're also interested in aesthetic requirements for the extended patios, potentially steering businesses away from wide concrete barriers and toward sleeker designs.
Several open questions remain about the future of extended patios. How much street parking needs to remain unblocked? Should the city limit the kinds of activities that can take place on the patios? Should the cost of the permit increase over time if the cost of overseeing the program rises? But Sawyer said staff are open to trying out an ongoing program for a few years and figuring out the answers to those questions along the way, and council members agreed.
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The only hiccup on council's end was street parking. Council member Kelly Ohlson said he doesn't think it's fair to other businesses to allow patios to extend into parking spots.
"I'm not for any parking spaces being used for this purpose moving forward," Ohlson said.
Other council members were less concerned, noting the parking garages near Old Town and the city's increasing focus on alternative forms of transportation.
"As we talk more and more about being a more transit-oriented city, we keep talking about preserving parking spaces," Mayor pro-tem Emily Francis said. "If we actually want to change the way that we're interacting with our public spaces, then we really need to think about how we want to prioritize that. ... I think there's an opportunity to really start expanding how we want to interact with our city (beyond) just driving to a place and then driving away."
Sawyer said staff could have a draft of the new patio guidance ready for council review in as soon as four or five weeks. Businesses will likely need to comply with the new guidelines by a specific date to be determined.
Jacy Marmaduke covers government accountability for the Coloradoan. Follow her on Twitter @jacymarmaduke. Support her work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.