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Committee approves sidewalk-cafe text changes, delays vote on fees
Summary
A city committee approved changes to sidewalk-cafe code language — including barrier layout, sanitation and a beer-bottle prohibition — but delayed deciding on a new fee schedule to allow more outreach to downtown businesses and to meet printing deadlines for license renewals.
A Tuscaloosa City committee voted to approve text amendments to the city’s sidewalk-cafe rules but tabled a decision on fees until mid-December to allow more outreach to downtown business owners and to accommodate business-license printing deadlines.
The committee split the item into two parts: text amendments (approved) and the fee schedule (deferred). Speaker 9, who presented the changes, told the committee the revisions clarify that a right-of-way use permit does not authorize commercial sidewalk-cafe use and that new sidewalk-cafe permits will not be issued to establishments classified as bar, club or private-event spaces, except for one existing permitted business.
The approved text adds operational and public-safety requirements, including a mandate that barriers be installed in straight lines — with a permitted entryway not to exceed 40 inches — quarterly pressure washing of the cafe area, unified furnishings (no mixed plastic and metal sets) and a prohibition on beer bottles being carried onto the sidewalk-cafe area. The proposal also lowers the start time for queuing permits from 11 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Speaker 9 summarized a set of fee options staff developed for council consideration, ranging from modest per-square-foot increases to flat-rate models and per-table or per-chair charges. Examples presented included: raising nonalcohol rates to $1.50 per square foot or adopting a higher per-square-foot model similar to another city at $7 per square foot; a monthly-per-square-foot option; a flat-fee model that would increase fees modestly each year through 2031; and a per-table/per-chair approach. Staff noted one option would cap annual fees (for alcohol-serving cafes at $2,000 and nonalcohol at $500).
Accounting and finance staff said the fee decision is time-sensitive because business-license renewals are printed in December; a fee change would need committee approval at this meeting to appear on next year’s renewals. Council members said they had engaged some downtown merchants but differed on whether the council should adopt a fee schedule immediately or seek more input.
A downtown business representative, Speaker 1, told the committee the current rate (stated in committee documents as $1.04 per square foot) already exceeds several peer cities and urged a modest increase to $1.50 per square foot rather than a steep jump. “That number 4, that’s crazy,” Speaker 1 said of a flat-fee scenario that would raise some businesses fourfold over several years.
After debate, Speaker 2 moved to table the fee decision and set the item for the committee’s next regular meeting on Dec. 16; the motion passed by voice vote. The text amendments on sidewalk cafes were approved and will be forwarded in ordinance form, with fees to be revisited after further outreach and staff follow-up.
The committee also discussed scheduling a potential special-called meeting on Dec. 9 if needed to meet printing or implementation timelines, but members settled on tabling the fee vote to Dec. 16.
