Economic Vitality Committee Agenda and Packet 2021 02 19

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Cityof ECONOMIC VITALITY COMMITTEE Louisville COLORADO -SINCE 1878 SUBJECT: DISCUSSION/DIRECTION- DOWNTOWN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION REQUEST FOR MAIN STREET CLOSURE DATE: FEBRUARY 19, 2021 PRESENTED BY: MEGAN E. PIERCE, ECONOMIC VITALITY DIRECTOR SUMMARY: In 2020, the City closed Main Street to vehicular traffic, block -by -block from Walnut Street to Elm Street. The closure began on June 10, 2020 and continued through December 4, 2020. The closure was a significant component of the City's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions this placed on small businesses, particularly restaurants. DISCUSSION: The winter version of the City's Outdoor Dining program has been in place since December 5, 2020—utilizing on -street parking spaces and concrete barricades to create outdoor seating areas for restaurants. Restaurants that did not wish to have outdoor seating areas were offered curbside signage to service take -away customers. The winter program is anticipated to be in place through at least the end of March. In mid - April, the City would normally deploy its downtown patio parklets, which would then be in place through the first week of November (weather permitting). City staff has been working on the potential options for the spring Outdoor Dining program. One component of that was engaging with RTD about the route of the DASH bus detour. When Main Street is closed, the DASH bus detours from Main at Short Street to LaFarge Avenue until it reaches Pine Street; a visual of the detour route is included as Attachment #1. Staff requested that RTD consider an alternative detour from Main, starting at South Street to Front Street and then to Pine Street. Attachment #2 is the letter received from RTD earlier this month which outlines the reason why RTD will not consider the alternative DASH detour. Under the Dial 2.0, indoor dining restrictions are at 50% capacity in Levels Yellow, Blue, and Green. However, under Levels Blue and Green, the 50% max capacity increases beyond 50 people. The overall limitation then is the square footage of the restaurant and how many people can reasonably be seated, when tables should still be a minimum of six feet apart. The State has indicated that if the vaccination program continues to progress positively, the capacity restrictions on the Dial 2.0 could be updated in April. But staff has been planning that the 50% capacity, or up to 50 people, may likely still be in effect for the next phase of outdoor dining. 16 restaurants participated in last year's Outdoor Dining program. Of those, five restaurants were not established participants in the patio parklet program. Staff is anticipating that if the patios were to be deployed for the spring, there is likely to be Agenda Packet P. 6