Council introduces permanent outdoor dining and retail ordinance, directs staff to tighten generator rules

El Cerrito's City Council on March 17 introduced an ordinance to create a permanent outdoor dining and retail program that codifies many of the temporary rules put in place during the COVID-19 emergency and streamlines permits for removable installations and limited permanent infrastructure.

Planning Manager Sean Moss and Associate Planner Diego Romero told the council the ordinance sets location and permit rules, requires compliance with program guidelines covering ADA clearance, fire safety and noise, and establishes a complaints-and-corrections process. Romero said the proposal would allow a limited set of outdoor food preparation pop-ups and maintain a streamlined review for removables, while permanent installations would require a higher level of design review and an encroachment permit if placed in the public right of way.

The measure grew from the city's temporary 2020 program; it has been reviewed by an interdepartmental working group and recommended unanimously by the Planning Commission. Romero told council the ordinance would automatically expire permits that remain unused (staff and the Planning Commission recommended a 180-day inactivity period to account for seasonal uses).

Public commenter Howdy Gowdy praised the ordinance but urged clearer language banning fossil-fuel generators and aligning generator restrictions with the climate action plan'aligned prohibition on gas space heating. "I think it should say 'use of fossil-fuel driven electric generators is prohibited' with narrow exceptions where infeasible," Gowdy said.

Councilmembers pressed staff for workable language that would stay within the streamlined, mostly administrative review the ordinance is intended to enable. Planning Manager Moss said the guidelines, not the ordinance, are designed to remain administratively amendable and that staff would return revised guidelines at the ordinance's adoption. Moss added the draft already limits generator hours and generally encourages connection to permanent power where feasible.

Councilmember Motoyama moved to introduce the ordinance with the city attorney's suggested edits (removing a clause that would require council approval of the program guidelines), incorporate prior typographical fixes, and direct staff to draft guideline language that would prohibit fossil-fuel generators with narrow administrative exceptions; the motion passed. The ordinance was introduced and will be brought back for adoption with the revised program guidelines attached.

Next steps: staff will revise the outdoor dining and retail program guidelines to clarify generator definitions and exceptions, return the updated guidelines with the ordinance at its next reading, and continue outreach to local businesses on program implementation.