Fountain Valley extends temporary outdoor dining permits

Fountain Valley restaurants that implemented outdoor dining in response to hardship brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and protocols intended to mitigate the spread of the virus will be allowed to maintain their outdoor setups through the end of the year.

The Fountain Valley City Council has opted for an extension of the city’s temporary outdoor dining permit program through Jan. 10, 2022. The temporary outdoor dining permits, which the city began issuing in June of 2020, had been set to expire on Thursday.

“The council has stepped up to allow outdoor dining,” said Fountain Valley Mayor Michael Vo, adding that he felt the restaurant industry was one of those hit hardest by the pandemic. “Due to the uncertainty of the Delta variant and to continue the support for local businesses, we decided to extend the outdoor dining so that restaurants and businesses can get back on their feet.”

Outdoor dining emerged as a development in several local cities to help restaurants when businesses faced capacity restrictions as part of the plan to positively impact virus transmission rates.

The color-coded, four-tiered system used to guide reopening across the state was lifted in June, and with it, restaurants could return to full capacity indoors.

Outdoor dining remained in demand with the public. Recognizing that, guidelines for permanent outdoor dining were introduced at the Fountain Valley City Council meeting on Aug. 17, but the extension provides restaurant owners with more time to prepare for that transition.

City officials are asking those interested in inquiring about permanent outdoor dining to contact the planning department.

Memory Bartlett, the president and chief executive of the Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce, spoke in support of the extension.

“The restaurants are still trying to recover from the pandemic, so they’re short-staffed,” Bartlett said. “A lot of them, even the owners are actually working in kitchens, and they just don’t have that extra time it takes to even file paperwork or get those permits put through. I think that this extension provides them with that time that they need to do that, because I do know that the majority of them plan on making those outdoor seating areas permanent.”

The temporary outdoor dining permits have allowed restaurants to conduct business on private sidewalks and in parking lots. At the conclusion of the life of the temporary emergency use permits, all items used to carry out those outdoor operations must be removed and the area cleaned to accommodate pedestrians and vehicles.

Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.