By HWM
New York City restaurants will soon be able to keep their roadway dining setups open year-round after Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed legislation making outdoor dining a permanent part of the city’s streetscape.
The new law, Intro. 0655, eliminates a previous requirement that restaurants participating in the city’s Dining Out NYC program dismantle roadway dining structures between Nov. 30 and March 31. The seasonal restriction did not apply to sidewalk cafes.
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Under the new law, restaurants will be allowed to keep their roadway dining spaces in place throughout the year. The New York City Department of Transportation will develop rules allowing businesses to temporarily winterize their structures while maintaining the program’s design and accessibility standards.
“Outdoor dining transformed our city once before, and now we are making sure it has a permanent place in New York City,” Mamdani said in a press release.
The mayor said the previous requirement forced small business owners to repeatedly dismantle and rebuild their outdoor dining spaces, creating additional expenses and making it more difficult for restaurants to plan.
The change is part of the administration’s broader effort to support small businesses and reduce what officials describe as unnecessary regulatory burdens.
Council Member Lincoln Restler, who sponsored the legislation, said the previous rules created obstacles for restaurants seeking to participate in roadway dining.
“The Adams-era regulations nearly broke outdoor dining, but this law will successfully restore outdoor dining to neighborhoods across the five boroughs,” Restler said.
Restler said year-round roadway dining would benefit restaurants, hospitality workers and New Yorkers by making greater use of public spaces.
Council Member Shanel Thomas-Henry, chair of the City Council’s Committee on Small Business, said the legislation would give entrepreneurs greater flexibility while helping strengthen neighborhood economies.
NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn said outdoor seating makes city streets more vibrant while supporting local businesses. He said the agency will work on rules for winterizing dining structures in a way that maintains comfortable spaces without compromising the program’s “light and airy” design.
The permanent policy comes after outdoor dining became a major feature of New York City streets during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city later established Dining Out NYC as a permanent program governing roadway and sidewalk dining.
Under the new law, restaurants will no longer have to shut down roadway dining every winter, potentially saving participating businesses the cost and labor associated with dismantling and rebuilding their setups.
The NYC Department of Small Business Services also backed the legislation, saying it will help restaurants serve their neighborhoods, grow their businesses and create opportunities year-round.
Photo by Dominika Poláková, Pexels
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