Thread by @shayshinecastle

#Boulder city council is back in chambers for tonight's meeting, where we're talking outdoor dining. (And a super brief CU South flood mitigation update)

No public attendance, though. That starts next month.

Jay Elowsky of Pasta Jay's is here speaking during open comment about outdoor dining and the West Pearl closure.

"The real stakeholders are the ones who signed on the leases, the ones who are liable for the rents and loans they took out," he says.

Elowsky: "For us, it's the location of foot traffic, drive-by-traffic parking. We'd like to have that back."

Maura Dudley wants to see the West End stay closed to cars. "It sends the message that we want people to use other modes as much as they are able." It's been nice to have "face-to-face interactions" that make Boulder "feel smaller" and friendlier.

Jon Banashek: The survey results related to West Pearl closures are "skewed" toward those in favor.

"Closing West Pearl Street for 5 years is far too drastic a change without overwhelming support from biz. More than half do not support continued closure."

Fewer speakers on outdoor dining than I thought. I'll revisit this thread later when we discuss that topic.

Alright... outdoor dining. Here is a *comprehensive* presentation from staff. Lots o' info in here. documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…

This has become controversial bc, while people seem to love the closure of the West End to cars during COVID, biz don't necessarily. And it costs time and $$.

Staff is recommending a 5-yr pilot program for outdoor dining and possible West Pearl closures, for which $250K in ARAPA money is allocated. That's IF council wants to continue it.

As it stands right now, street closures and outdoor dining will last through August.

Not that you need a reminder, but this all started when restaurants couldn't let ppl dine inside bc of COVID. So Boulder gave up parking and sidewalk space to allow outdoor dining.

It was a little hodge-podge; as Cris Jones is going over now, there were accessibility issues — bike racks being made inaccessible, and some outdoor dining options not accessible to people with mobility devices.

The West Pearl closures also removed ADA parking spaces from use.

Sidewalks were also blocked in some cases, or passage restricted a bit beyond what ADA requires.

And again on the West Pearl closures, emergency access and deliveries were restricted and snow removal made more difficult.

The HOP bus was also re-routed.

That is all to say: Just letting things continue as-is, really isn't an option. The city wants uniform outdoor dining infrastructure and more permanent solutions for road closures to address these issues... if that's what council wants.

Among staff's recommendations for outdoor dining:
Up to 500 sq ft of expansion area
Height restrictions of three feet
No closed-in structures
Roofs not recommended
This is for "safety, consideration for other businesses, wind and snow load requirements"

A couple options for the pilot program (if council wants to do that)
A - biz purchase infrastructure and responsible for storage; partial subsidy available. Lease cost of $18.75/sq ft on the bricks, $13.13/sq ft off brick

B - City bulk purchases infrastructure and leases it to restaurants for up to $35/sq ft per year; city also responsible for storage of infrastructure

C - Restaurants purchase and store infrastructure; can be reimbursed; no cost to them for licensing/fees

Totally forgot to share this earlier when we were talking about the impacts of the current approach (where everyone just kinda does what they want):

Per feedback from Downtown Management Commission, Center for People With Disabilities...

There were “social impacts as a result of restricted access to the public ROW for people with disabilities, cyclists, transit users, and people from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds who have experienced access challenges to patronize businesses.”

Back to options for the pilot program: I believe Option C is *only* for outdoor dining on private property — not the city ROW. (That's why there's no cost for leasing city property or infrastructure)

Survey results indicate that biz likelihood to participate in a pilot program is heavily dependent on cost.

- With no fees, 49% of restaurants, 60% of all biz were “very likely” to participate in pilot

- That drops to 36% of restaurants at $35/sq ft and 23% at $50/sq ft

So basically, the more expensive it gets, the less people are to say they will do it. Pretty standard stuff.

“Among restaurants that were interested in outdoor dining prior to having cost information, 43% were likely to participate in the program if the cost were $50/square foot and 61% were likely to participate if the cost were $35/square foot as displayed

This is from two surveys of downtown restaurants, biz, workers, residents and visitors. We'll get into those results in a second, but first I want to talk about sales tax.

“Preliminary sales tax data suggests the closure of the West End may not have resulted in an economic advantage. However, several restaurants have closed on the West End through the pandemic which may have resulted in lower sales tax performance.”

Of course, correlation does not equal causation (and there are many other factors) BUT
Sales tax from restaurants on West End is still 59% of pre-pandemic levels - vs 88% citywide, 84% downtown

East Boulder: 142%
Pearl Street Mall: 95%

Not charted anywhere, but staff said that fast-casual eateries on the West End are struggling more than sit-down places, who benefitted more from outdoor dining.

That feels like a perfect tidbit to illustrate all that we DON'T know.

Did people's eating habits change? Is this a result of fewer office workers downtown, or lack of curbside parking?

It's far too simple to say the West End street closures impacted sales, but also far too compelling of a data point to ignore altogether.

Anyway, to the survey results. 836 responses, including 54 restaurants

76% of visitors said outdoor dining made “significant improvement” to downtown
66% of workers said the same, and
64% of residents
55% of restaurants
52% of other biz

As to negative impacts of outdoor dining
9% restaurants reported that, and
4% other biz
3% downtown workers
2% downtown residents
1% visitors

Specific to impacts on businesses, survey respondents said they were:

Very positive
63% restaurants
38% other biz

Somewhat positive
17% other biz
13% restaurants

Negative
12% restaurants (6% somewhat, 6% very)
11% other biz (8% somewhat, 3% very)

Another survey focused specifically on the West End and street closures.

47 responses - 18 restaurant, 17 retail, 14 other

Positive impacts
Restaurant: 72% (61% very, 11% somewhat)
Retail: 65% (41% very, 24% somewhat)
Other: 47% (39% very, 8% somewhat)

Negative
Restaurant: 23% (17% somewhat, 6% very)
Retail: 18% (somewhat)
Other: 31% (23% somewhat, 8% very)

When asked what they wanted to do, West End survey respondents said:

Keep West End closed to cars
41% restaurant
50% retail
58% other

Open West End to cars
35% restaurant
14% retail
33% other

Open West Pearl, w/seasonal outdoor dining
24% restaurant
29% retail

OK, I'm a little behind. Council already asking qs. I'll catch up.

Benjamin: This is a 5-year pilot. Could we make it cheaper for restaurants if we spread the costs over 7 years or 10 years?
Jones: Our lease rates could change and likely will change over time. That's the nature of the pilot: We want time to learn things.

Wallach: How many seats can you get in 500 sq ft?
Jones: "It probably depends on the ambience you're going for."

Wallach: Why a 3-ft height restriction?
Jones: That's an alcohol licensing requirement for barriers between dining and public spaces

Yates: Can we make 10th between Spruce and Pearl a two-way street with a cul-de-sac and handicapped parking? And a spot for pickup and deliveries? That way we solve some issues but keep Pearl Street closed to cars.

Jones: Some time and effort would be need to evaluate that and other options for mitigating the issues.

Staff has suggested that they'll need several years "to pursue a holistic, broad, and intentional vision for downtown Boulder." Hence, the pilot project.

Staff also recommending a revocable license agreement with Downtown Boulder Partnership for the pilot program. That entity would manage and operate the space while staff does their holistic, intentional visioning.

Speer: We have ARPA $$ now for infrastructure, but infrastructure always needs replacing eventually. Where is that $$ going to come from?
Jones: It depends on what option we choose. If the biz own it, it's on them. If we do, we've planned that cost into our proposed fees.

Speer: It seems like staff is not recommending the West Pearl closures continue. Is that fair? Are you not taking a position?

Jones: We did not take a position. "A lot of the data we have is across the board. Our inclination is certainly to be more conservative."

It would be to discontinue the closures in their current format while we explore other options, Jones says. We acknowledge that a lot of people in the community like it. And even biz opposition wasn't super strong.

Council in agreement that outdoor dining guidelines (whatever gets developed) can apply citywide in the public right of way and on private property — not just downtown.

Not quite universal agreement about the city subsidizing the cost for restaurants, but enough consensus that the city will do *some* form of subsidy. Again, $250K in subsidy already set aside, plus possible grant funding in the future.

MATT BENJAMIN WE CAN'T HEAR YOU

Someone text him.

On the West End closure, Wallach says. "This seems like it would be easy, but it's something we ought to be cautious about." References all the biz owners — by name — who have emailed asking to reopen West Pearl.

"I'm focused on what's going to be beneficial to our restaurants, I have questions as to the effectiveness fo what we're doing," Wallach says. "I want to take fairly seriously comments from serious restauranteurs if that's the sector" we're trying to help.

There's three choices here:
Yes (keep it closed to cars)
No (open it back up)
Seasonal (close it during spring/summer, open it back up to cars in the winter and maybe fall)

This is a decision for what happens *after* COVID emergency orders end, to be clear. That's what's allowing for outdoor dining in the first place.

Winer wants to reopen the streets but keep parking spaces for outdoor dining, if biz want to use them.

But "if you're not going to do that, please seasonal" closures only, Winer says.

Benjamin (who we can hear now, thank you!): Let's straw poll it

Friend: "I would not be in favor of reopening until the analysis is done."

"I have really enjoyed the West End closure," Friend says. "But the tax numbers, the revenue seem to demonstrate that we don't love (it). If we're not giving them biz, that's not a favorable outcome to me."

Folkerts echoes: "I would like to see it stay closed," but there are some challenges we need to address. "It's a big design undertaking." I'd like to see the schedule before making a final decision.

Wallach echoes that: There are too many things we don't know. I'd like to get more analysis.

Wallach Sigh-O-Meter: 2.35
Wallach Matrix References: 2

Speer: This is really hard for me, bc I love being down there, I love having more of our city free of cars. But change is hard. It feels right to give biz more time to prepare and to think of a more permanent solution.

"I love the idea of putting some time into it, but I also think opening it back up is the right thing to do while we make that decision," Speer says.

Yates: "These conversations were happening 50 years ago." There was a "huge, raging debate" in 1976 in these very chambers about whether or not to close Pearl Street and make it a pedestrian mall. Now it's one of the best in the world.

"I suspect if we reopen, it will never close again. Let's seize what we have," Yates says.

We have a majority of biz owners and residents who support keeping it closed. Let's keep it closed as we work on a long-term solution.

Yates asks for a biz-by-biz level analysis of sales tax revenue. Mentions another factor that may influence the data: There's more restaurants on the West End than the East. And restaurants are the last to recover in times of crises.

As Benjamin noted earlier, CU's forecast said restaurants wouldn't recover until 2025 at least.

Brockett: This is a tough one bc biz don't agree on it, and we want to listen to everyone.

"Keep it closed while we figure it out," but we need to improve access for people with mobility challenges right now.

NRV: There are bigger conversations to be happening here about the future of downtown. There are things we simply don't have the capacity to do in this year's workplan.

This was in response to a question from Friend: Is this already on staff's workplan. The answer is yes and no.

Winer: I don't understand why we'd keep West Pearl closed to cars in the winter when it's cold and snowy and ppl want to be doing takeout. Very few ppl are going to be walking around "in subzero temperatures."

Brockett asks for more communitywide feedback; Speer asks for staff to share what tradeoffs it's making to work on this (what it would be working on instead).

And with that, I think we're done.

Jones: We'll be back in the not-so-distant future.

@threadreaderapp please unroll. Thanks!