St. Charles officials could waive outdoor dining fees for restaurants affected by plaza construction

With First Street Plaza construction underway downtown, St. Charles officials are considering waiving outdoor dining fees – at least for the first half of the season – for restaurants that may be negatively impacted.

Downtown restaurants that use the First Street Plaza for outdoor dining are required to obtain a sidewalk cafe permit. The permits are good for 100 days and businesses are required to renew the permit halfway through the outdoor dining season.

On May 8, the city’s planning and development committee voted to recommend waiving fees for the first 100 days of the season. The recommendation also includes revisiting the fee waiver after the first 100-day permits expire to see if business owners actually are being affected by the construction.

The fees are determined based on the square footage of the plaza space used by each restaurant. Each 100-day permit costs $1 per square foot.

In 2022, the sidewalk cafe permit fees collected from McNally’s, Gia Mia, La Zaza, La Mesa and Alter Brewing totaled $7,228. This year, if fees were collected, the total from those restaurants would be $6,480, as each restaurant had to reduce its outdoor dining space because of the construction.

At the meeting, St. Charles Economic Development Director Derek Conley presented the recommendation to waive outdoor dining permit fees to offset the hindrances caused by the construction, including dust, noise and limited accessibility.

Conley said waiving the fee for the full outdoor dining season would be a gesture of goodwill toward the downtown business community, adding there may be times construction occurs during the evening and on Saturdays.

The committee’s recommendation will go to the City Council.

The First Street redevelopment project has been in the works since 2020. The first phase was completed last spring and included building a retaining wall along the Fox River and filling the hole where the Manor Restaurant had been demolished.

The City Council approved the second phase of funding and construction of the First Street redevelopment at a meeting March 20, and contractors began putting up construction fences May 1.

The second phase will include construction of a plaza featuring a solar pergola trellis and public art installations. Plans also call for the closing of a section of First Street to vehicles to create pedestrian walkways from the parking garage entrance north to Main Street.