Outdoor seating hampers St. Armands pedestrians

The St. Armands Circle Business Improvement District (BID) Board of Directors met Tuesday to discuss a problem they all agreed was a good one to have: The Circle and its restaurants are so busy that pedestrians are complaining there’s not enough room to stroll down the sidewalk.

At its regular meeting Tuesday, BID directors told city staff that Circle restaurants are so busy — during the evening hours, especially — that a mismatch of tables and chairs are starting to block sidewalks and extend to the Circle’s curbs. Makeshift bussing stations on sidewalks and in empty handicapped parking stations are also springing up to handle an influx of restaurant patrons.

City planner Alex Davis-Shaw told BID directors that city code does not allow for makeshift bussing stations or additional tables and chairs in the public right of way other than the city has given restaurants permission to utilize. Restaurants are also required to post outdoor seating requirement permits, which includes a map of the outdoor seating that was approved.

Although city staff promised to have code enforcement make a visit to the Circle to make sure restaurants are adhering to outdoor seating requirements, BID board members were more interested in seeing if modifications could be made to the city’s code to allow for more uniform outdoor seating.

BID Chairman and leading organizer Marty Rappaport told staff he and others are concerned about the quality of the tables and chairs that are popping up around the Circle.

“We’re wondering if there’s anyway to achieve a certain kind of standard moving forward,” Rappaport said.
St. Armands Circle Association Executive Director Diana Corrigan called the look of the furniture “a hodgepodge that includes everything from 1950s lawn furniture to chrome tables and chairs.”

“We want to give businesses individuality to make their own statements, but it’s becoming an eyesore if restaurants have too many mixtures of different kinds of tables and chairs,” Corrigan said.

Although city staff said it would not change codes to mandate a restaurant owner have a certain type of furniture inside its restaurant or within its outdoor private property, they were willing to come back to the BID at a later date with suggestions on how to create a furniture standard for outdoor dining in public rights of way.

“If we can control what’s in the public right of way, we can have one type of chair and table there,” Rappaport said. “We just want something that eliminates restaurants from putting beach chairs out there in what’s becoming the No. 1 shopping destination in the country.”

Davis-Shaw said city staff would investigate the current code and come back with other options to make outdoor furniture more consistent. But she warned the code couldn’t be too strict.

“If we get direction for similar furniture, you want to be aware the furniture may not be the same, but it may complement each other,” Davis-Shaw said.

Corrigan was pleased and said the city staff looking into code violations will also be helpful.

“There are sections at night where you have difficulty walking because you can’t get down the sidewalk,” Corrigan said. “But we realize it’s a great problem to have.”

BID will ask commission for extension
St. Armands Circle Business Improvement District Chair and leading organizer Marty Rappaport told the BID board of directors at its Tuesday meeting he will tell Sarasota city commissioners at the March 16 regular meeting the BID plans on moving forward with a 10-year extension of the BID taxing district.

Needs for another 10-year extension of the BID include gathering funds for a parking garage on the Circle, public bathrooms, burying power lines, more landscaping and Circle entrance signs for motorists.
Rappaport wants to discuss any issues the commissioners may have with the extension before moving forward with a $15,000 referendum effort. Circle landowners must approve a simple majority vote to approve an extension of the BID.