Community board presses city agencies on use of loading docks, parking lots for Dining Out NYC cafes

Manhattan Community Board members pressed applicants and city agencies on whether historic loading docks and adjacent parking lots can be included in outdoor dining footprints under the Dining Out NYC program, amid conflicting agency practice and safety concerns.

At two licensing appearances the committee said applicants should not assume a loading dock or adjacent lot is eligible for a sidewalk or roadway cafe permit unless the Department of Transportation and other agencies explicitly approve it. Committee members emphasized safety, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) access and inconsistent enforcement under the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (formerly DCA) and DOT as the core unresolved issues.

The committee discussed two applications in which outdoor areas triggered questions. For La Pecora Bianca (LPB 4 LLC), the applicant sought a municipal alteration to serve alcohol on sidewalks and an approved (but pending) DOT roadway cafe. The committee asked the applicant to conform to an earlier 2019 stipulation that limited outdoor hours; the applicants indicated they would reduce their proposed outdoor hours to match the prior stipulation. A representative for La Pecora Bianca said the restaurant will follow “all rules and regulations of the Dining Out NYC program” and agreed to the prior closing times the board requested.

The more prolonged discussion involved Shay FanFan Corp., a proposed small French restaurant at 510 Broom Street. Attorney Eleanor Schotten and the applicant principals described plans for a traditional brasserie with modest live acoustic music and interior seating. The application initially included a historic loading dock area; community members and committee members said DOT and the State Liquor Authority (SLA) had not issued clear guidance about treating such docks as part of licensed premises. The committee repeatedly said that historic practice under the older DCA enforcement did not bind DOT and that safety and ADA questions remain unresolved.

Attorney Eleanor Schotten told the committee her clients had included the dock area in outreach to notify neighbors, but that they had not yet applied to DOT for a roadway cafe. In response to the committee’s concerns, the applicants agreed to remove the loading-dock/outdoor seating from the current application and to present evidence of any legal right to use that space only after DOT or another agency confirmed permissibility.

Committee members said they would inform applicants that the board’s position is to require explicit municipal authorization before approving use of municipal property for dining and alcohol service. Several members also urged the city to produce clearer rules and guidance about historic loading docks and other atypical public space configurations.

The board did not adopt a new policy at the meeting; instead members recorded direction to applicants (remove contested outdoor areas from current applications unless agency approval is in hand) and to staff to continue pressing for clearer interagency guidance on how loading docks and similar configurations should be treated under Dining Out NYC.

Ending — The committee encouraged applicants to proceed cautiously: interior operations and stipulated interior hours can move forward, but any expansions into loading docks, curbside roadway cafes or adjacent public lots must come with explicit DOT/DCA/SLA confirmation or be pursued later as an alteration to the license.