A rarely enforced ordinance limiting outdoor dining in West Hartford has come back to life as downtown becomes more popular, The Associated Press reports.
Town police have reminded business owners of a 10 p.m. curfew on outdoor dining. The ordinance allows customers who order food outside an establishment before 10 p.m. to stay seated as long as it takes to finish dining.
Food and drinks must be served inside after 10 p.m.
For years, the curfew was seldom enforced because there was no need to follow it.
But a decade of development in the town center, including a $158 million retail-residential complex, made West Hartford a restaurant destination for visitors from as far away as Massachusetts and the shoreline.
However, complaints from some residents about the downtown activity spurred reminders of the curfew.
