Sidewalk Dining Gets OK for a Year’s Trial

Owners of small restaurants applauded city officials this week for tentatively approving sidewalk dining, a change they say will give Newport Beach the cosmopolitan touch it needs to attract tourists.

“If you are in Europe, it’s common to have tables on the sidewalks and in plazas,” said Karl Poetes, owner of Caffe Carluccio on the Balboa Peninsula. “It gives tourists an opportunity to walk and sit and watch people go by.”

Since last summer, the Newport Beach Restaurant Assn. has been lobbying city officials to allow dining on sidewalks outside cafes and small restaurants.

Poetes, a German native who has been in the hospitality industry for 33 years, said Newport Beach’s streets can now compare favorably to Paris’ Champs Elysees or Berlin’s Kurfurstendamm.

The city staff had recommended that restaurants pay a fee for using public sidewalks. Instead, City Council members voted Monday to charge no fee for a one-year trial period.

After that, an annual fee of $200 would be levied on restaurants with more than 100 square feet of interior seating space, and $100 for those with less.

“It’s about time Newport Beach catches up with the rest of the tourist capitals of the world,” said Dan Marcheano, president of the restaurant association. “This is a way to respond to the influence of tourism.”