Boulder’s COVID-19 restaurant support efforts “well-received”
BOULDER — Boulder’s efforts to support local eateries during the COVID-19 pandemic have thus far been “well-received” by restaurateurs and the community, assistant city manager Yvette Bowden said during Tuesday’s Boulder City Council meeting.
The city’s new program, which began in late May, was centered on improving ease of pick-up and delivery services and expanding opportunities for alcohol sales and use of public right of way for dining service. Specifically, the city closed Pearl Street between Ninth and 11th streets and along Event Street, an area on University Hill that comprises a half block on Pennsylvania Avenue west of 13th Street, to allow for expanded outdoor dining, opened up curb space throughout the city for more pick-up and take-out options, and allowed restaurants to apply for liquor license modifications for carry-out and delivery service.
Since May 27, there have been 81 applications under the program. Most of those were for the establishment of restaurant parklets, which permit tables to be set up on streets and sidewalks; and for liquor license modifications.
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Those applications were typically processed between two and six days, Bowden said. Staff has put in 1,200 hours processing these applications at a cost to the city of nearly $75,000.
While it is too soon to calculate the specific fiscal impact of Boulder’s regulatory changes, it appears that those impacts will certainly be positive, she said.
The application window will close July 17. On Oct. 1, the city will begin removing the temporary closure barriers and evaluating the overall success of the program.
“We were in a pretty desperate situation in mid to late May where businesses were going under,” Councilman Bob Yates said. “… I really appreciate the work of so many staff members … who had to come together in a cross-disciplinary and collaborative way to figure out how to get this done in a matter of days.”
Yates added that it is worth examining “what other regulatory barriers we as a city put up to all sorts of endeavours in our community. We should use this as an example of cutting through the red tape.”
