Street Dining Decks can stay, but no more beer pong, Hermosa Beach City council decides

by Kevin Cody

Street dining decks on Pier and Hermosa avenues will remain open, and auto traffic lanes will remain closed, at least until January 2023, the Hermosa Beach City Council decided by unanimous vote at its Tuesday evening meeting.

But restaurants may be required to “use or lose their decks,” council members agreed. 

The council first approved dining decks in parking spots in front of downtown businesses in June 2020. The decks were intended to enable restaurants to serve customers outdoors when indoor dining was prohibited because of the pandemic. 

At the same time, the council approved reducing Pier and Hermosa avenues from two lanes in each direction to one lane in each direction to make room for the decks and bicycle lanes.

The popular program was extended in June 2021 and again in December 2021. 

The latest extension comes with several modifications proposed by Hermosa Beach Environmental Programs Manager Doug Krauss.

Among them, traffic barriers that surround the decks must be “covered…in an aesthetically pleasing manner,” shade canopies must be permanent and retractable, and no sports, or games will be allowed. “This includes darts, beer pong, corn hole and DJs.” Live music will continue to be allowed.

The council also discussed increasing the $1.50 per square foot the city is charging for decks on city property. 

The council agreed to review the fees after the summer, when financial data on the deck usage will be available.

“It’s not about the city making money. It’s about making the city desirable,” Council Member Mary Campbell said.

Krauss said the projected annual revenue for the $1.50/sq.ft. decks is $400,000. The city has issued approximately 60 deck permits. Dining areas leased by the city prior to the pandemic, primarily on Pier Plaza, generate approximately $280,000 annually, Krauss said. ER

Comments:

comments so far. Comments posted to EasyReaderNews.com may be reprinted in the Easy Reader print edition, which is published each Thursday.