Last of NYC’s outdoor dining sheds must come down by Friday
Photo by Eden, Janine and Jim on Flickr
The last of New York City’s street dining sheds must be removed by Friday under the city’s new seasonal guidelines. Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez on Tuesday reminded restaurants that November 29 is the last day to remove outdoor roadway dining sheds; businesses that fail to comply face fines of up to $1,000. While sidewalk dining setups that abide by the program’s rules can operate year-round, roadway dining will return with the new season, starting April 1, 2025.
“New Yorkers came to enjoy outdoor dining during the pandemic and ‘Dining Out NYC’ has made it a permanent, vibrant part of our streets,” Rodriguez said. “As the season for outdoor dining in our roadways draws to a close on November 29, I urge all businesses to act now and remove their setups to avoid costly violations.”
Most roadway dining structures were removed during the summer when the city’s popular pandemic-era outdoor dining program—Open Restaurants—ended. During the four years of the program, 13,000 restaurants were issued permits for outdoor dining, including about 8,000 on roadways, according to Gothamist.
Remaining sheds are part of the city’s permanent outdoor dining program, dubbed Dining Out NYC, which operates seasonally from April 1 to November 29.
Restaurants that submitted applications to the program by the August 3 deadline were permitted to keep their roadway sheds up for the remainder of the season. Businesses without permits face fines ranging from $500 for a first offense to $1,000 for repeat offenses until removal.
As of Tuesday, DOT has received applications from 2,994 restaurants for outdoor dining, more than double the amount of participating restaurants before the COVID program. Of these applications, about 1,400 have been for roadway setups, as reported by Gothamist.
However, the number is significantly lower than during the pandemic-era program, a drop attributed to Dining Out NYC’s seasonal structure, requiring restaurants to disassemble and store their structures in winter, along with new fees and design requirements.
In August, the Daily News reported that only 2,500 restaurants, or about 15 percent, of the approximately 13,000 restaurants that utilized outdoor dining during the pandemic applied to the new program.
Next season, when roadway sheds return to city streets, they will look noticeably different. The new program requires that restaurants use modular shed designs, unveiled by DOT in March.
Designed by WXY architecture + urban design and fabricated by SITU, the customizable prototypes are made of materials from a standard kit, which makes it easier for restaurants to abide by the program’s new guidelines. The standardized sheds are expected to cost participating businesses tens of thousands of dollars, according to Gothamist.
While outdoor dining is no longer permanent year-round in NYC, it is in New Jersey. On Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation making outdoor dining permanent in the Garden State.
RELATED:
