Published in the June 26, 2020 edition.

By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD — Local restaurants now have the option to offer outdoor dining seven days a week. The Town Council voted this week to adopt Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio’s latest recommendation to help local businesses recover from the months-long COVID-19 shutdown.

Earlier this month, the Town Council voted to allow restaurants to expand outdoor seating onto sidewalks and into parking spaces in front of their establishments. These measures were initially permitted from 12 noon on Thursdays to 10 p.m. on Sundays.

At this week’s meeting, Maio asked the Town Council to make the option available seven days a week after seeing the positive response to the expanded outdoor dining when he and his wife went out to eat on a recent weekend.

“I saw so many happy people from patrons to workers,” he said. “All enjoying a semblance of normalcy.”

Under the guidelines set forth earlier this month, establishments that wish to utilize these outdoor areas adjacent to their building need to complete a simple application, provide their own tables and chairs, provide six feet between tables and follow all state and local health safety protocols. Seating in these outdoor dining areas is on a reservation basis for a maximum of 90 minutes per seating. Parties are be limited to six and contact logs are to be maintained. Diners will be allowed inside the restaurants to use bathrooms.

Restaurants with liquor licenses may apply for a local modification of their license that will allow them to serve alcohol in these designated outdoor seating areas. They are able to use a streamlined process that avoids the red tape that would normally be involved.

Maio said that a number of restaurants have completed the applications to open up for outdoor dining, including Caffé Italia (which will also include the area previously designated as Harrington’s thus creating a 1,050 square foot area). The Bread Shop has also completed the application. Sabatino’s has also been offering outdoor dining.

Maio said that he has spoken personally with the owners of Sakura, the Public Kitchen and Artichokes and has asked the DPW to create some plans that will extend the areas of both Sakura and Public Kitchen.

He noted that beginning this week, restaurants can also open indoors on a limited basis.

In speaking with the restaurants, Maio said that it appears that there are a number of reasons that some have not yet opened, including cost and the uncertainty that they might hire back staff and order food only to be empty.

Another factor was lack of help as some employees will not return as long as the Federal $600 a week payment continues.

There were also concerns about the effect that outside dining could have on their “robust” take out service. The labor intensiveness of having to move furniture, etc. for outdoor dining was also a consideration for some restaurants, Maio said.

Based on his observations Maio offered the following recommendations:

• Allow the enclosed/street/sidewalk areas to be utilized seven days a week. This will cease the work of rebuilding the stage every week for both the DPW and business owners. It would also allow the business owners to spread their costs over seven days, not just four, and lessen the impact of inclement weather. Opening seven days a week may entice more employees back to work, Maio said. The “permanent” reopening may also provide a better sense of normalcy for businesses as well as allow a broader window of time for patrons to enjoy outdoor dining and hopefully expand to the retail and/or service establishments.

• Allow expanded areas for Sakura and Public Kitchen, which may entice them to come to the street.

• Allow the whole East Side of Tuttle Street as an extension for whichever restaurants want to come out.

“There will be pushback,” Maio told the Town Council. “I am sure that the other businesses will offer concerns about parking and access. I believe that there is plenty of parking, in some instances just across the street. Also, it seems to me that we are seeing more walkers and bikers in the downtown. I have been in communication with John Smolinsky at the Chamber of Commerce and he agrees with the expanded approach.”

Maio stressed that the outdoor option is not just for restaurants. Retail stores and other businesses can also expand out onto the sidewalk as long as sufficient space for passage is provided.