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Committee advances permanent sidewalk‑dining program; departments to coordinate reporting
Summary
After a pilot during the pandemic, the committee amended and reported a bill that would make sidewalk/outdoor dining a permanent city program, with annual reporting and continued interdepartmental coordination on permits, accessibility and enforcement.
The Committee on Planning, Infrastructure and Transportation on Feb. 11 amended and reported out a bill to make Honolulu's pandemic-era sidewalk and outdoor dining pilot a regular city program.
Deputy Director John Ouchi of the Department of Transportation Services described the program's origin: "The outdoor dining that we see in our city right now was the genesis of that happened during the pandemic," he said, recounting that early steps were simplified to help small restaurants survive social‑distancing requirements. Ouchi told the committee the department supports making the program permanent but asked for flexibility on the frequency of required reports.
Councilmember Dos Santos Tam, the bill's introducer, said the program can be an economic-development tool beyond downtown, boosting activity on other corridors. Deputy Director Bridal Gallagher of the Department of Planning and Permitting said applications are annual renewals and DPP will inspect setups and track notices of violation; she suggested the Office of Economic Revitalization could help assemble economic-impact data for the reporting requirement.
Committee members discussed the usefulness of annual reporting and whether reporting every two or three years would reduce administrative burden; members agreed to keep the reporting requirement in place for now and to work with the administration on frequency and format, and how the report could be included in departments' existing annual publications.
The chair recommended the bill be amended to the posted CD1; with no objections the committee amended Bill 1 (2025) to CD1 and reported it out for passage on second reading and scheduling of a public hearing.
Implementation notes: departments said they will coordinate on permitting, ADA accessibility and enforcement, and that DPP will house records and permit renewals while DTS will manage street-use approvals. Committee members asked that departments engage neighborhood boards and provide clearer public guidance on allowable furniture and placement near planters and tree wells.
Votes at a glance: Bill 1 (2025) was amended to CD1 by unanimous consent and reported out for passage on second reading and scheduling of a public hearing.
