SAN DIEGO — In a little more than a month, hundreds of restaurants in the City of San Diego will either be forced to tear down the temporary outdoor dining areas or apply and pay for the necessary permits.
According to city records obtained by CBS 8 through a public records request, only 19 restaurants, some of which are located inside food courts, have applied for the city’s “Spaces as Places” permits. That is less that 4% of the 500 restaurants or so that installed the makeshift outdoor dining areas as a strategy to drum up business during the COVID shutdown.
As first reported by CBS 8, the city sent a letter to restaurant owners last month telling them that they must apply for a Spaces as Places permit by July 13 or apply for a permit to have them torn down.
The cost of a new permit ranges from $10 to $30 per square-foot plus inspection fees depending on where the restaurant is located. The permit will last two years once approved.
According to city data, Little Italy restaurants applied for the greatest number of permits with a total of five, some of which were located in food courts. North Park had the second most restaurants to apply for the permits, followed by South Park, Gaslamp, and Hillcrest.
In a June 1 statement, the project coordinator for the city, Chris Larson told CBS 8 that restaurants were allowed to build outdoor dining areas to help them cope with the pandemic.
"Just because a business has a temporary outdoor operation permit, doesn’t mean their location or what they’ve constructed will qualify to meet the requirements for the Spaces as Places permit," said Larson.
"There’s going to be requirements to have access to the platform every ten feet. There are going to be requirements that the platforms don’t continue for half a block or a block so that there’s the ability for emergency services to move from the street to the sidewalk similar to how they would for a car," he added.
Kevin Gardner manages Baja Betty’s Bar and Restaurant in Hillcrest, one of two restaurants to have applied for the Spaces as Places permit.
Gardner says the outdoor dining arear will be a big cost to restaurants. "It’s going to cost us a hefty amount monthly we’ll have to pay to the city," said Gardner.
"We’ve had to jump through quite a few hoops to get it permitted with the state and city it’s been a process, making sure everything is up to code everything is safe in this process," said Gardner.
WATCH RELATED: New restrictions for outdoor dining in San Diego take effect July 13th (June 2022).