As the New Year takes shape, Orange County residents are left to wonder if outdoor dining will continue to be on the menu as pandemic restrictions begin to ease and restaurants return to a new normal.
Although many city officials agree that outdoor dining is the future for the survival of restaurants, cities across Orange County are increasingly reversing their temporary outdoor dining regulations on public spaces such as sidewalks or streets.
Some cities have extended their policies for private spaces like patios, rooftops and parking lots owned by businesses. Other cities have projects and plans to extend outdoor dining options.
The Voice of OC reached out to all of the cities in Orange County for comment. Out of the seven cities that responded, two of them spoke about improving policies for outdoor dining on public spaces, one spoke about new projects to improve outdoor dining experiences, and four spoke about outdoor dining experiences on public streets.
Shaheen Sadehi – a well known OC developer of the LAB Anti-Mall and the CAMP in Costa Mesa as well as the Anaheim Packing House said he has been advocating for more outdoor dining in Orange County for over 30 years but he thinks cities are following obsolete state restrictions.
“I think it’s time to dust off these old policies and really look at way of life,” said Sadeh, referring to outdoor dining policies that he thinks are outdated because during the pandemic, people adjusted their lifestyles and more people shop locally now.
Changing the Status Quo in Brea and Santa Ana
Many cities have returned to allowing restaurants to apply for outdoor dining permits on private property, such as parking lots connected to restaurants and patios or rooftop spaces.
“I would almost say like you’re behind the eight ball if you don’t have a patio in your restaurant. I think now, you know, COVID conditioned people that ‘oh this is nice and that’s what we want,”” said Jason Killebrew, a communication development officer for Brea.
Killebrew said the city of Brea implemented a temporary use permit plan for restaurants to expand outdoor dining to parking lots from 2020 to 2022. He said at first, changing these policies came with growing pains, but his staff focused on safety and sustainable solutions.
“I think that was a concept that wasn’t tapped into fully,” Killebrew said, “One of the good things of COVID as it woke people up to capitalize on the steady and pleasant weather.”
Similar to Brea, the pandemic forced the city of Santa Ana to evaluate their outdoor dining policies. Paul Eakins, a spokesperson for the city of Santa Ana, said due to the speed of change, there was not a standard for outdoor dining until specific policies were implemented.
“The pandemic sort of spurred that policy change on a temporary basis for public health and to help business, but here at the city, we saw the value in that,” Eakins said.
Eakins said Santa Ana had temporary outdoor dining policies for public spaces and some policies for private spaces are now permanent.
“By having those policies in place now, it allows us to have better standards and oversight of our outdoor dining while allowing for businesses to continue doing that which will help us in the long term too,” Eakins said.
Projects to Quench the Food Desert in Mission Viejo
Some cities invested in projects and plans to promote outdoor dining. For example, the city of Mission Viejo focused on projects to reinvigorate shopping and dining experiences in order to compete with neighboring cities’ experiences.
During the pandemic, they completed the Paseo project to remodel the Mission Viejo Village Center with new decorative features for outdoor dining. The city is now gearing up to start the Los Osos project to open retail and restaurants up to the trail behind the Village Center.
“In my eyes, it’s important to the community because it’s the one area of the community that is lacking, I’ll say, or is not as good quality as some of the other things that we have done, said Keith Rettay, the assistant city manager of Mission Viejo.
Although Rettay said outdoor dining has improved in the city, such as the Terrance on the Green restaurant owned by the city of Mission Viejo, these projects are intended to encourage residents to dine in Mission Viejo rather than other cities.
“We have been referred to as a food desert in Mission Viejo. We don’t have a lot of nicer quality dining experiences and this project will definitely change that,” Rettay said.
Sadehi said food service is moving away from commodity consumption and towards community centers. He said the pandemic helped clean out mediocrity in the restaurant scene and recalibrated the market.
“People care about what they eat and how they eat. They care about supporting local businesses,” Sadehi said, “This idea of a soulless national chain that sort of dropped in our neighborhoods, I think people are finally understanding that actually robs neighborhoods of their culture as opposed to adds new services.”
How the Orange Plaza Paseo Plan Affected Downtown Orange
In the city of Orange, Aaron Schulze, the city’s economic development manager, said outdoor dining served as a lifeline for their restaurants.
The city created the Orange Plaza Paseo Plan, which closed street access to cars on Glassell Street to allow people to walk around and dine in the Orange Circle. It allowed restaurants to extend their dining spaces onto public sidewalks and roads without traffic concerns.
“It took what could have been just a dead zone and turned it into a bustling area where people came and they ate outdoors and they got to enjoy walking around our town which was something that we don’t normally get to do because of vehicular traffic that’s there,” Schulze said.
To adjust to the closure of Glassell Street, Schulze said the city had to modify some traffic regulations, especially because the city has a rich history with public transportation. Schulze said the Orange Plaza Paseo Plan did not affect the train depot where Metrolink and Amtrak trains arrive, but the OCTA buses in the area had to change their routes.
The Orange Plaza Paseo Plan has since ended and Glassell Street has reopened, despite some residents expressing that they wanted to street to be closed to car traffic permanently.
Shutting Down Santa Fe Avenue in Placentia
The city of Placentia had a similar program where they temporarily shut down Santa Fe Avenue from Bradford Avenue to Main Street to vehicular traffic in order to expand outdoor dining.
“Since the implementation of the outdoor dining in Old Town Placentia in 2020, there was a greater use of the public street to provide a safe environment for patrons to dine out while maintaining the appropriate social distancing requirements,” wrote Damien Arrula, the city administrator in Placentia, in an email.
Placentia has since reopened the street but the city council approved last December for the 100 block of Santa Fe Street in Old Town Placentia to be used for outdoor dining and one-way vehicular thru traffic. Arrula said staff are prepared to design plans to accommodate outdoor dining for six restaurants in that area.
Sadehi said COVID-19 temporarily relaxed restrictions and lessened overthinking parking and fly rules that previously prevented more outdoor dining.
“What was previously really driven and mandated by parking I think became a temporary ay for these businesses to survive. But now a few years after the pandemic, I think nobody wants to go back inside,” Sadehi said.
Did Fullerton’s Walk on Wilshire Work for Restaurants?
Similar to the Orange Plaza Paseo Plan, the city of Fullerton opened the Walk on Wilshire project during the pandemic. Originally named Bike Boulevard, a small part of Wilshire Avenue was closed off to street traffic to allow for outdoor dining and shopping.
The Fullerton city council decided to extend the project for the first time in 2022. Later that year, the city extended Walk on Wilshire to June 2024 in a split 3-1 vote with one absence, council member Nick Dunlap.
During the meeting, council member Bruce Whitaker voiced his concerns about the temporary nature of the project might affect the long-term effectiveness for the restaurants on Walk on Wilshire.
“We have a bit of push-pull, chicken and egg situation because of the uncertainty of whether this being a test for 18 months, depending on those costs involved for those businesses, there’s going to be a reluctance for those businesses to commit,” Whitaker said.
Steven Bise, the city engineer at the time, ensured the council that the details of the project can be adjusted. He said although the initial cost may be high for businesses, the dining culture has shifted to eating outdoors.
The mayor at the time, Fred Jung was the only vote against the Walk on Wilshire.
Jung said the concrete barrier to block traffic on Wilshire was ugly and the project was rushed. The barriers have recently been replaced with permanent metal bars to block street traffic.
“To do a miniature scale of that and put it on Wilshire, that I would really consider something small-minded in scope. It’s almost the small-mindedness of local government that oftentimes we get trapped in,” Jung said.
Huntington Beach at a Crossroads Regarding Outdoor Dining Policies
In the city of Huntington Beach, the dichotomy between street access and outdoor dining intersected on Main Street when the council debated eliminating temporary outdoor dining policies earlier this year.
The Huntington Beach city council decided earlier this year in a split 4-3 vote to reopen Main Street after it was temporarily closed for outdoor dining during the pandemic.The vice mayor at the time, Gracey Van Der Mark, called for Main Street reopening.
Van Der Mark said they should reopen the street to pre-pandemic policies until they can figure out a permanent solution for the street. She said the outdoor dining standards were temporary and argues that it would be dishonest to their constituents if they kept the street closed.
Council member Casey McKeon agreed with Van Der Mark and he said the council was trying to find the best solution that benefits all the businesses on Main Street.
“It’s time to have like an adult conversation about this,” McKeon said, “Of all the issues that we’re focused on one of the most combustible is Main Street. There’s a lot of high emotions down there.”
Council members Rhonda Bolton, Natalie Moser and Dan Kalmick voted to keep the street closed. Moser said the council can focus on beautification efforts instead of eliminating everything.
Dan Kalmick, a Huntington Beach city council member, said the council has argued over closing Main Street for years and he questioned the importance of vehicular traffic even before the pandemic.
Kalmick said hopes to expand walkability and he wants to reimagine Main Street and the city is evaluating parking standards.
“I think outdoor dining is going to be a major component of that but unfortunately, this new council doesn’t seem to be interested in taking that up. They’re more interested in banning books from our libraries and taking down the pride flag than actually providing business incentives to create a better quality of life,” Kalmick said.
Sadehi said the future of outdoor dining lies on the shoulders of local city leadership and how much they want to sustain the outdoor dining business models.
“I’m really hoping that our policymakers have learned from experience. It actually promoted business, created jobs and created opportunity and I’m hoping that they’re going to allow it to organically grow and really turn the focus back to people’s quality of life and lifestyle as opposed to parking,” Sadehi said.