Restaurant manager applauds Denver City Council's passage of new rules for outdoor patios

Denver City Council voted unanimously to adopt Denver's Department of Community Planning and Development's proposed new standards for businesses to keep outdoor patios on their private property this week.  

Community members expressed that they enjoyed being able to eat, drink and gather around outdoor patios.

At Rioja Restaurant located at Larimer Square, people on Wednesday were enjoying the outdoor dining experience.

Beth Gruitch, proprietor and general manager at Rioja, says this move from the city is welcomed.

"Colorado loves sitting outside, so our patios are an integral part of our summer, spring and fall business," said Gruitch.

The restaurant is one of the hundreds that joined the temporary outdoor places program during the pandemic.

"The extra seating out here is imperative to our business. Prior to the pandemic, we had about five tables and as you can see now we have quite a few more," Gruitch said.

The Outdoor Places Program was designed to allow local businesses like restaurants and bars to safely expand their serving capacity, giving them a chance to still stay open during the coronavirus pandemic.

"We had our five tables that were closely towards the windows of our restaurant, because we had to have a walkway as well, now that the streets are open, we have been able to expand into what would be the parking spaces, so we probably tripled our patio at Rioja alone," said Gruitch.

The Outdoor Places Program requirements for private property patios expand upon the temporary program and offer some of the following improvements through zoning code changes:

- Businesses other than restaurants and bars can use the Outdoor Places Program.
- Old zoning requirements of contiguity (meaning, patios must have been physically connected to the business) and delineation (meaning, patios must be clearly marked by fences, walls or plant materials) were relaxed to allow for greater flexibility for patio design and tailoring for individual businesses.
- Individually enclosed dining spaces may be part of an outdoor patio space if their capacity is no greater than 20 percent of the occupancy of the indoor space.
- Businesses may choose to go through an optional design review in order to receive relief from zoning standards, including the possibility to use more private parking spaces for outdoor patios.

The program was a big help for restaurants and bars who saw more than 50% of their revenue during the pandemic from outdoor dining.

Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association shared the following statement with CBS Colorado:

"It's imperative that local restaurants be allowed to continue utilizing both public and private outdoor spaces as these businesses continue to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic. We're thrilled that the City of Denver has made this commitment to creating equitable, accessible, and efficient policies that allow our restaurants to flourish and thrive through outdoor dining."

Businesses and restaurants that are looking to extend their outdoor spaces past the temporary program should apply through the city.