Mayor Luke Bronin announced Friday a new online outdoor activities permit for Hartford restaurants and retailers, just days ahead of the state’s planned May 20 reopening.
Businesses that are eligible to reopen on May 20 can apply for outdoor eating, alcohol, retail activity, and signage permits. Businesses that have existing permits for those activities and are not expanding them do not have to apply.
Sara Bronin, chair of Hartford’s Planning and Zoning Commission, previously said the city will consider lifting limits on the size of outdoor seating areas and encouraging the conversion of parking lots to outdoor seating in order to accommodate as much outdoor dining as possible.
Restaurants in Hartford and across the state were forced to close their doors since mid-March to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve created a streamlined, one-stop application for eligible businesses that want to reopen with expanded outdoor operations on May 20th,” Bronin said. “Part of striking the right balance between protecting public health and facilitating our economic recovery is clear communication with businesses, and this application lays out what standards restaurants and retailers have to meet to operate outdoors as safely as possible. We want to make the process simple, quick and clear, so that businesses can expand outdoor operations in a safe and responsible way, but we will also be taking our enforcement responsibilities very seriously. I am very grateful to the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City staff from Development Services, Health and Human Services, Public Works, and our Fire and Police Departments for working very quickly to put together a thoughtful process.”
Hartford’s new outdoor activities permit debuted the same week that Gov. Ned Lamont signed an executive that empowers towns and cities to expedite zoning changes or ordinances for small businesses seeking to bring their operations outdoors.
In particular, the order allows municipalities to fast-track changes for restaurateurs to either create or expand outdoor dining areas. It also allows restaurants or other liquor permit holders to serve alcohol without applying for a separate patio or extension of use permit.
Golf country clubs and for- and not-for-profit clubs are also permitted under the executive order to serve food and alcohol to members and their families.
On the retail side, the order speeds up the municipal approval process for businesses such as retail stores applying to sell goods on the sidewalk or other outdoor shared spaces. One caveat is that a 6-foot clearance for social distancing purposes must be provided for pedestrian passage.
The order also lifts restrictions on minimum parking requirements and suspends any bans on outdoor activities from occurring in parking lots.
The governor’s office said that all phase one reopening activity is subject to rules issued by the state Department of Economic and Community Development.
Lamont last week released a report citing specific rules that eligible businesses must follow in order to reopen starting May 20.
The first phase of Lamont’s plan to reopen the economy will allow the following industries to begin to reopen: restaurants; offices; hair salons and barbershops; retail stores; and outdoor museums and zoos.
Here are the regulations for various industries: