PORT TOWNSEND — After a torrent of feedback from business people and other local residents, the Port Townsend City Council is poised to consider the future of the pandemic-induced “streateries” during their meeting Monday.
Streateries — eatery seating in the roadway — were permitted both downtown and Uptown starting in 2020, to give restaurateurs a way to serve their customers food and drink in a relatively COVID-safe way. This was a temporary policy that the City Council then extended three times, with the latest extension to expire May 9, right after Mothers Day weekend.
Earlier this year, the council began to discuss allowing streateries over the long term. Public surveys were conducted. An in-person open house was held. All of it unleashed an outcry.
Downtown merchants, transit advocates and longtime Port Townsend residents spoke fervently against making streateries a fixture. Even as Mayor David Faber and other council members expressed their liking for the outdoor dining spaces, the anti-streatery comments — written and oral — kept coming.
At its most recent meeting on April 18, the City Council heard several variations on the “end the streateries” theme.
The members decided, however, to move the long-term proposal forward for possible adoption during this Monday’s 6:30 p.m. session.
The meeting is open to in-person or online attendance, either at City Hall at 250 Madison St. or via the city’s website, cityofPT.us. To see the agenda and participate online, click on Government and then on Agendas & Minutes to find the May 2 meeting.
Parking — for shoppers and would-have-been-shoppers — is the concern of many who’ve spoken against streateries.
“Stop this nonsense tonight. Start over, as you should, with a LONG TERM PARKING PLAN,” wrote Margaret Lee, a 42-year resident, in her comment to the council.
Michele Gransgaard, another opponent of converting parking stalls to outdoor eating spaces, sent a list of some 40 local restaurants that already offer alfresco dining on patios and plazas. So the streateries aren’t needed, she said.
Downtown business people including Gail Boulter of the Clothes Horse, Pat Louderback of Getables, David Wing-Kovarik of Frameworks Northwest and Samantha Ladwig of Imprint Bookstore all said the shortage of parking spaces around Water Street constitutes a serious problem.
A parking management plan, added activist Scott Walker, has been talked about for many years — yet city leaders haven’t made it happen.
A restaurateur also addressed the council: David Hero, co-owner for 32 years of the Silverwater Cafe on Taylor Street.
“It’s not really fair to prioritize restaurants over other businesses,” he said, as streateries take up spaces they should share with their neighboring merchants.
Besides, Hero said, for much of the year, it’s too cold and rainy for people to want to dine out of doors; he suggested allowing streateries only in the seasons when people can be reasonably expected to eat outside.
Walker was the most direct on what to do with the long-term streateries idea.
“I highly encourage you to kill it right now,” he said, “and get to work on the downtown parking management plan.”
After more than an hour of further discussion, the council members voted unanimously to put the streateries ordinance onto this Monday’s agenda.
The conversation during that meeting will include permitting up to four streateries downtown and two Uptown, with a maximum of one per block.
The council also will talk about extending the permits for the existing streateries for several months while the long-term program is brought into place.
During the April 18 meeting, council member Libby Wennstrom said she doesn’t think ending streateries and then spending more years on a parking study are the answer. It’s time to think about what kind of downtown we want, Wennstrom said, adding that in her home city of Ithaca, N.Y., three blocks were entirely closed off to cars back in 1972.
“There was huge screaming” at first, but the policy has proved a success for 50 years now, she said.
As for Port Townsend’s streateries, Wennstrom asked: “At some point, can’t we just try something?”
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Jefferson County Senior Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz @peninsuladailynews.com.
