Outdoor dining working group approves many sidewalk/roadway cafe plans, flags several for rework or denial

The Manhattan City Outdoor Dining Working Group convened Sept. 10 by Zoom and in person to review more than a dozen applications for sidewalk and roadway cafes across downtown Manhattan.

Chair Valerie Dela Rosa opened the meeting by saying, “We are gonna go in the order of the agenda… and we will call each application up one by one,” and the group then heard public comment, applicant presentations and staff observations before moving into a business session that produced multiple approvals with conditions and several denials.

Why it matters

The decisions affect pedestrian clearances, curbside uses and restaurant operations in neighborhoods where sidewalks are narrow, tree pits or utility vaults reduce usable width, and residents have repeatedly raised concerns about lines, trash and obstructed walkways. The committee’s work formalizes whether businesses may keep or expand outdoor seating and under what conditions.

What the committee heard and required

Public commenters and community board members repeatedly pressed applicants to show accurate, to‑scale site plans and to measure clearances from the edge of tree pits, cellar hatches and pedestrian ramps rather than from the center of trees or other informal reference points. Community members said several applications in the packet showed layouts that did not match photographs on file.

Leslie (identified in the record as a community commenter) pointed to a string of unauthorized enclosed sidewalk structures that had been recently removed citywide and warned against re‑enclosures. Norma (a neighborhood resident who testified at several items) described repeated bottlenecks at a bus stop frontage and said the presence of tree pits meant there was little or no room for the seating the applicant had proposed.

Applicants acknowledged several of those points at the table. Alyssa, who identified herself as the owner of ESC2 LLC d/b/a Edith Sandwich Counter, said her business had moved sandwich boards and used stanchions, and that managers were reminding customers not to eat on private stoops; she said she would submit adjusted signage and planters to address neighbors’ concerns. Doug Mace, attorney for Grace’s, said the applicant would check a missing checkbox about a…