NYC Approves Only 40 of Over 1,300 of Outdoor Dining Applications

Is New York City’s outdoor dining scene dying? It appears likely, writes Chris Crowley in New York Magazine. As of January 30, just 40 of 3,700 applications for outdoor dining setups were approved by the city’s Department of Transportation.

City comptroller Brad Lander expressed “grave concerns” over “the scale of DOT’s shortcomings,” but a DOT spokesperson said one-third of applications were rejected for just causes, while two-thirds were passed on to community boards in the review process. “That does not explain the gap in approvals, however; only applicants wishing to build new outdoor structures — somewhere around 1,400 of the pending applications — need community-board approval. Applications for traditional sidewalk seating do not. So, the question is, where are all of these outstanding applications?”

According to Lander, “The DOT knew when the law was passed that they were going to have this responsibility. They knew that the applications were coming in by last August. And they just were not approved to hire up the staff necessary to approve all these applications.” Now, restaurant owners are stuck waiting to find out whether or not they should invest in outdoor seating infrastructure as the April 1 opening date for outdoor dining season approaches.