MANCHESTER, NH – As the Queen City prepares for warm weather to return and the COVID-19 pandemic to die down, the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BMA) are preparing discuss bringing back outdoor dining on Elm Street.
If approved at Tuesday’s BMA meeting, parking spaces along Elm Street between Merrimack Street and Bridge Street would be blocked off with jersey barriers to allow outdoor dining for any restaurants seeking to provide more socially distanced dining options for their customers.
The outdoor dining is optional and without cost to the restaurants, although they will have to pay normal encumbrance fees either way.
City officials are expecting approximately 20 of the 120 parking spaces in the area along Elm Street to be used. During normal times, this would cost the city approximately $44,200 in parking fees. However, it’s assumed that the additional outdoor seating may help some of the restaurants survive during this difficult time as it did during 2020 according to the testimony of several restaurant owners to the BMA. It’s also unclear whether foot and vehicle traffic will return to what it was before the pandemic.
If approved by the BMA on Tuesday, restaurants will have until April 30 to apply for spots. The first outdoor seating will commence on March 15 and continue until November 7, weather permitting.
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