photo by: Rochelle Valverde

The "parklet" patio of Papa Keno's Pizzeria, 837 Massachusetts St., is pictured on Sept. 18, 2021.

City leaders will soon consider proposed limitations, design criteria and fees for a program that would allow businesses to construct patios and outdoor dining areas in downtown parking stalls on a permanent basis.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider adopting an ordinance establishing the permanent program, which will establish various regulations and charge businesses $1,000 per year per parking stall used. The city initiated a temporary version of the program at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, and commissioners previously indicated they wanted to develop the permanent version and hired an architecture firm to help develop the draft ordinance.

Limited regulations were developed for the temporary program, and businesses were allowed to use the city parking stalls free of charge. The draft ordinance also incorporates the city’s existing sidewalk dining program. Some retailers have expressed concern about the impact on parking availability, and the proposed ordinance limits how many parking stalls a “parklet” may take up and how many parklets are allowed per block.

Specifically, the draft ordinance allows a parklet to contain a maximum of three diagonal parking spaces and two parallel parking spaces. There is also a limit of 12 parking spaces per city block that can be licensed for use as a parklet. Participation in the program is first-come, first-served, and once 12 spaces in a block are exhausted applicants to the program will be placed on a waiting list.

Fees for the program were set to recoup lost parking revenue and cover city costs of operating the program, according to the draft ordinance. Businesses will be charged $1,000 per parking space per year for the parklet program. The sidewalk dining program will charge $5 per square foot for businesses that also choose to use sidewalk space.

As part of the application process for the parklet and/or sidewalk dining program, businesses must have liability insurance that covers the area and submit a site plan for city staff review that meets fire safety, accessibility and design regulations laid out in the ordinance.

Those proposed regulations include a design that maintains at least a 4-foot-wide opening between adjacent parklets for fire safety access, aligns with access requirements established by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and meets stipulations for building materials, use of lighting, and the height and location of barriers or railings, among other regulations. The ordinance also includes regulations on the use of items such as heaters, umbrellas, wind blocks and electrical connections.

When it comes to aesthetics of the parklet or sidewalk dining areas, the ordinance calls for them to be finished with high-quality, weather-resistant materials that fit within the context of downtown, among other specifics. The ordinance also calls for the removal of the orange plastic city traffic barriers currently placed between parklets and driving lanes. Instead the city will install vertical reflective posts and concrete wheel stops.

If commissioners approve the new regulations, the ordinance requires businesses currently operating a parklet or sidewalk dining to apply for the new version of the program by Sept. 2. Those businesses will then have until Jan. 1 to come into compliance with the new regulations. For those businesses that do not want to continue outdoor dining, all fixtures should be removed from the sidewalk and parking stalls by Sept. 2.

The city hired locally based architecture firm Multistudio, formerly known as Gould Evans Associates, to help develop the permanent version of the parklet program. The firm met with downtown business owners and city staff and reviewed city parking revenues to inform its recommendations, according to a city staff memo to the commission.

The Lawrence City Commission will convene at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.