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Q&A
Fee structure for outdoor dining permits
2:09:47
·
145 sec
Council Member Brewer inquires about the fee structure for outdoor dining permits, expressing concern about high costs for restaurant owners. DOT officials provide a detailed explanation of the fee system and justify its reasonableness.
- Outdoor dining fees are approximately 25% of indoor lease costs
- DOT provides examples of fees for different types of restaurants:
- A Crown Heights restaurant pays about 29¢ per seat per day
- A SoHo restaurant with a larger setup pays $1.53 per seat per day
- Fees are based on the value of public space being used privately
- DOT argues that the fees are reasonable given the potential revenue for restaurants
Gale A. Brewer
2:09:47
Okay.
2:09:48
And the other thing was the restaurant that talked about the fees.
2:09:52
Know you said that you need to have that, discussion about the, architectural drawings that needs to be more complicated than what do you think the fees should be?
2:10:04
Or is there some way that you could limit the fees that people have to put in as a restaurant owner in order to put that structure up?
2:10:11
Because that was a pretty high number.
Margaret Forgione
2:10:13
Okay.
2:10:14
So what I'd like to do is give some examples of the fees.
2:10:19
And first and foremost I want to say that the fee outside is about 25% of what an indoor lease or rent would cost a restaurant.
2:10:29
And obviously it should be much less because of weather and other factors, but it is very reasonable where in some cases restaurants are able to make quite a bit of money using their outdoor dining.
2:10:41
So we have two examples.
2:10:43
If we have a minute, we'll show
Gale A. Brewer
2:10:43
Suppose it doesn't rain.
Margaret Forgione
2:10:45
Correct.
2:10:46
So that's why it should be, of course, much lower, but at the same time it's very, very valuable space for restaurants.
2:10:54
Some restaurants double their space by having outdoor dining, is really quite tremendous.
2:10:59
So we have an example for you, a Crown Heights restaurant on Franklin Avenue.
2:11:06
They have 104 square foot roadway setup.
2:11:08
They have 12 seats, and basically they're paying the revocable consent is about $832 per year.
2:11:17
It comes out to about 29¢ per seat per day.
2:11:21
Okay, and then for reference to give you a sense of what type of restaurant this is, the average entree is about $18 The average drink is $12 Then we have a Soho restaurant example.
2:11:34
So this is a large setup.
2:11:35
It's both sidewalk and roadway.
2:11:37
It has 105 seats.
2:11:39
They pay $23,454 per year, which is a dollar and 53¢ per seat per day, but then again for reference, every entree is over $40 and the average drink is over $20 So I want to try to put it in perspective.
2:11:58
We think the prices are quite reasonable.
2:12:00
This is public space that is no longer able to be used by the public.
2:12:04
It's by a private entity.
2:12:06
There needs to be a fair charge for that space, and we think these are more than reasonable costs.
2:12:12
Okay.