Business owners remove, scale back street dining as Norfolk enacts new rules

The city is changing the rules for on-street dining four years after Norfolk embraced outdoor setups during the coronavirus pandemic  — and downtown business owners are not happy.

In the spring of 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic began to escalate in the United States, Norfolk allowed flexibility in outdoor dining on patios, sidewalks and even in city parking spaces. The city enacted a temporary approval process, making it easy for restaurants to install outdoor dining areas as a way to help them survive the state-imposed closure of indoor spaces.

Now, Norfolk has asked businesses to follow new, long-term rules for street dining. While some downtown business owners are working to comply with the new regulations, others are removing their setups entirely.

City officials say the new rules, which have been in the works for more than a year, are a long-term solution, and the less restrictive regulations were never meant to be permanent. But business owners say the new restrictions mean more expensive changes for setups that have already cost them thousands of dollars.

The city sent letters to business owners April 11 detailing what they would need to change to comply with the new regulations.

“I think that’s just such terrible timing,” Patrick Edwards, owner of The Stockpot Norfolk, said. “Now is the time when people are starting to sit out there.”

He said the city delayed telling business owners what they needed to do until nearly a year after passing ordinances related to street dining. Additionally, they did so during the beginning of the busy season for outdoor dining and at a time when contractors have less availability, he said.

Rather than undergo the time-consuming process of obtaining a permit and paying new city fees, Edwards said he plans to remove his outdoor seating, which was used two months of the year. He plans to transfer it to a Chesapeake restaurant opening soon.

“That way I’m not wasting the money that I invested into building that,” Edwards said.

Christy Marron, owner of Grace O’Malley’s Irish Pub and Restaurant on Granby Street, said she was instructed to reduce the size of her street dining setup, or “streatery,” from three parking spaces to two. Marron said she’s in talks with city officials to finalize the changes before bringing in a contractor.

The Grilled Cheese Bistro on Granby Street is in a similar situation, owner Dina Taylor said. According to the letter she received, she will need to remove two-thirds of her $24,000-plus setup and reapply for a conditional use permit.

“We are not rich people,” Taylor said. “We are here doing our best and came out of the pandemic fighting to keep doors open.”

Norfolk spokesperson Kelly Straub said restaurant owners were asked to respond to the letters by May 1, but there is no formal deadline for compliance.

During the height of the pandemic, city officials granted permission to a wide swath of street dining setups along Granby Street, in Ghent and other city locations. Called OpenNorfolk, the temporary program expired April 30, 2023.

The dining setups were also encouraged by the Downtown Norfolk Council business organization, which offered restaurants matching $5,000 grants to construct or improve outdoor dining spaces beginning in early 2021.

The pandemic-era city program was replaced by a long-term program called Norfolk Outdoor Spaces, which was developed by Norfolk-based Work Program Architects and approved by City Council on April 25, 2023. The group worked with area businesses, including Grace O’Malley’s, in developing the plan.