Outdoor dining is at risk in Pacific Grove after the Planning Commission suggests strict rules.

For a sliver of time almost nine years ago, Pacific Grove had a pilot outdoor dining parklet program. Jordan Champagne, co-owner of Happy Girl Kitchen, knew she had to act fast. “Knowing Pacific Grove, change can be challenging for some people,” she says. Champagne immediately lined up an architect and a contractor and built a parklet as quickly as possible. Just as she predicted, the pilot program was soon nixed and Happy Girl became the only restaurant in town with a parklet.

The distinctive dining spot in the parking spaces on Central Avenue was an immediate hit with customers. Sales increased by 30 percent after its opening and never decreased, Champagne says. While the HBO show Big Little Lies was in town, executive producer and star Reese Witherspoon hosted an Instagram video in the parklet and as a result, it’s now a stop on self-guided tours for fans.

In the early months after Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns were adjusted to allow for outdoor dining, City Manager Ben Harvey used his emergency powers to let restaurants seek encroachment permits for dining on sidewalks and in parking spaces. The new parklets were immediately popular, sales taxes were up and the city found itself to be a trendy spot on the Monterey Peninsula.

Nevertheless, not everyone in P.G. loves the parklets, including some members of the Planning Commission, who in meetings over the last couple of years have voiced concerns that include losing downtown parking spaces, access for disabled people, safety for both vehicles and diners and noise from live music.

Earlier this year the commission formed a subcommittee to study the issue, resulting in an 86-page report released in early November. The report acknowledged that people want parklets to remain – the subcommittee’s own survey showed 75 percent of respondents support them. “The subcommittee has concluded that outdoor dining has become an important part of Pacific Grove. However, there are public health and safety issues that must be addressed in the design of the parklets and sidewalk locations,” it states. The report includes 14 recommendations that – if enacted by the P.G. City Council – would essentially require all of the remaining 13 parklets to be dismantled, five permanently, with others allowed to build back smaller.

“I was aghast,” Champagne says.

Her parklet of over eight years would be eliminated, along with the parklets of Vivolo’s Chowder House and Il Vecchio, because the recommendations state parklets only be allowed on streets with a 15 mph speed limit, as there is on Lighthouse Avenue through downtown. The speed limit on Central Avenue is 25 mph. “That parklet makes Happy Girl such a special place for me and my customers,” Champagne says.

At a meeting on Dec. 8, restaurant owners like Liz Jacobs, co-owner of Wild Fish, told commissioners their recommendations would significantly hurt their businesses. Her popular parklet featuring live jazz on weekends would be reduced to just four tables. “This doesn’t foster business, it eviscerates the parklets,” Jacobs said.

She pointed out that the parklets have been safe and do include disabled access. “We comply with every local, state and federal requirement. It’s a little disingenuous to say they are lacking right now,” she said.

The commissioners voted 4-1 to send the recommendations to the P.G. City Council. Commissioner Bill Frederickson voted no, saying he was sympathetic to the cost burden to restaurant owners, especially in the face of challenging economic conditions.

The council is scheduled to discuss the recommendations on Wednesday, Dec. 21, side-by-side with recommendations from staff. The staff recommendations were not available before the Weekly’s deadline, but Harvey says they will be similar to rules proposed earlier this year. Those rules are less onerous, with no prohibitions based on speed limits or proximity to intersections. There are spacing requirements and rules about access to utilities and fire hydrants, among others.