Carmel’s temporary parklets will end April 20, but a path to permanency is possible.

Carmel restaurant owners suspected that a loud minority was behind the push to end the village’s temporary parklets, so they gathered their own data. They sent surveys to Carmel residents, with one survey coming back with a 91 percent approval rating, says Ken Spilfogel, owner of Flaherty’s Seafood and a member of the Restaurant Management Committee of the Carmel Restaurant Improvement District.

Spilfogel took those results to the Carmel City Council on April 5, joined by other owners who argued they will lose business without parklets. They said the loss will result in layoffs and lost sales tax revenue for the city, along with a loss of $40,000 a month in rent the city is receiving from restaurants operating parklets.

Despite those arguments, and despite pleas from residents who spoke in favor of outdoor dining, the council members failed to lift a previously approved April 20 end date. As of 5pm that day all temporary parklets will have to be dismantled.

Councilmember Carrie Theis disagreed, saying Covid has changed the way people want to dine “and that’s not going away.”

At a council priority-setting workshop on March 10, the council also failed to prioritize creating a permanent outdoor dining plan, which would mean it would have to wait behind other projects.

On April 5, Mayor Dave Potter admitted he made a mistake in March not pushing for it as a priority. To correct that, he introduced a motion directing staff to come back in 30 days with a process to take outdoor dining to the Planning Commission, giving the commission 90 days to bring a plan back to council. The motion passed 5-0.