Dining Shed Season Returns: Rush Is On for Last Minute OKs on UWS and Chelsea

When New York City’s revamped outdoor dining program rolls out on April 1, local residents can expect to see far fewer dining sheds than before. Many applications have yet to be fully approved, although the city’s Department of Transportation has made bureaucratic compromises to ensure that sheds can operate during the process.

Applicants have been rushing to community boards everywhere, including on Manhattan’s West Side, to earn an advisory stamp of approval that they can take to the DOT. While community boards don’t have any power to genuinely approve or deny an applicant, their input can be considered by city agencies, and it is recommended that applicants appear before them. Community Board 4, which covers the area, had 12 shed applications on their schedule this month.

Nearly 3,000 sheds will be in operation citywide by April 1, the city’s Department of Transportation told Straus News. This confirms a significant downtick, of more than 75 percent, from the roughly 13,000 sheds identified by a prominent NYU study during the phenomenon’s pandemic peak. This isn’t different than figures announced by the agency on Feb. 28.

The sheds are either placed on the sidewalk or roadway, a distinction which comes with separate rules. Sidewalk sheds are allowed to stay up year-round, meaning that those that go up by April will remain, if fully approved. Roadway sheds must come down by Nov. 21 under the rules that went into effect last year.

Since individual restaurants can apply for both a roadside and sidewalk shed, the DOT notes that a significant chunk of sheds in the original program were doubled-up at the same establishments, so to speak. They estimate that 6,000 to 8,000 restaurants participated overall, with about half as many participating now.

The figures are no longer as grim as the New York Times reporting from mid-February made them appear, when only 39 applications—out of a backlog of 4,000—had been fully approved.

The DOT then “cut” some “red tape” to ensure that under-review roadway sheds can operate, which was already the case for sidewalk sheds; they confirmed to Straus News that these “conditional” roadway approvals and waivers for under-review sidewalk applications have helped the process. The DOT did not confirm how many applications have been confirmed since, instead pointing to the 3,000 that will be allowed to operate regardless.

The overall decline in “dining out” participants has been attributed, at least by industry representatives, to a host of new regulations that came with the reworked application. In addition to rat-proofing changes such as sand barriers being replaced by water barriers, as well as changed measurement requirements, the applications come with thousands of dollars in fees.

The new program also came with some concessions to local opponents of dining sheds, who have generally argued that they’re either “blights” or safety hazards, particularly traffic ones. Now, sheds must provide a “clear pathway” to commuters and/or pedestrians.

Community Board 2 included notes that could provide a snapshot of broader compliance issues. For example, eight applicants needed a “lane waiver” from the DOT, while two were not ADA compliant. There were 28 considered total, meaning that nearly half of the sheds needed correction before full approval.

CB2 is bounded by the south side of 14th Street, the north side of Canal Street, the west side of the Bowery/4th Avenue, and the Hudson River. It encompasses the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village, Little Italy, SoHo, NoHo, Hudson Square, Chinatown, and the Gansevoort Market.