San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer recently responded to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new limitations on indoor activities, which affect all of San Diego County. Due to the increase of COVID-19 cases in certain counties, Newsom imposed new restrictions on a variety of non-essential services.
Counties impacted:
Colusa
Contra Costa
Fresno
Glenn
Imperial
Kings
LA
Madera
Marin
Merced
Monterey
Napa
Orange
Placer
Riverside
Sacramento
San Benito
San Bernardino
San Diego
San Joaquin
Santa Barbara
Solano
Sonoma
Stanislaus
Sutter
Tulare
Yolo
Yuba
Ventura
*— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 13, 2020
Many businesses will struggle to adapt to an outdoors-only model, which is why Mayor Faulconer took the initiative to make outdoor dining and services more accessible for all businesses. The San Diego City Council adopted his plan to allow restaurants and retail stores to expand to sidewalks, parking lots, and on-street parking. The “Str-eateries and Street-ail” plan will allow expansion into on-street parking with no required fees and fast-tracks the approval process.
This builds on the Exec Order I signed last week to allow use of sidewalks & parking lots for outdoor dining.
Included in the new ordinance:
✅ waiving of permit fees for ~500 businesses
✅ addition of on-street parking to the list of available spaces they can use#streateries— Kevin Faulconer (@Kevin_Faulconer) July 14, 2020
Outdoor space expansions are possible thanks to a recent executive order by Faulconer, which waived regulatory requirements that restaurant owners would otherwise have to abide by in order to expand outdoor dining.
“Our local restaurant and retail owners have shown incredible resolve and resilience throughout this pandemic. Many of those small businesses have been among the hardest hit and San Diegans are ready to support them safely and responsibly,” said Mayor Faulconer. “The response we’ve seen to outdoor dining has been overwhelmingly positive, and this ordinance opens up so many more options for our small businesses as they work hard to rebound and recover.”
