The Winnetka Village Council’s review of one business’ outdoor seating request earlier this month briefly turned into ruminations on the business vitality near Winnetka’s Elm Street and Lincoln Avenue intersection.
By the end of their July 19 discussion, Winnetka trustees approved the seating request that would give business owner Josh Keating more outdoor tables for his recently opened Stacked and Folded sandwich and taco restaurant at 551 Lincoln Ave.
Keating told council members that his main goal in getting the seating permit “is to draw more business to Lincoln and Elm, and create a more productive and vibrant feel, more vitality in this area of town that has really become quite quiet.”
Trustees also asked Village Manager Robert Bahan to see if the village could help find more outdoor table space for the nearby Café Aroma restaurant.
Trustee Andrew Cripe urged Bahan to do so, saying “we’ve got this nice little corridor going,” of potentially pedestrian-drawing outdoor areas that could become useful to area business.
The discussion started when Café owner Mitra Ryndak, whose restaurant at 749 Elm St., south of Stacked and Folded on the corner of Elm and Lincoln, asked trustees to clarify the village’s outdoor seating rules.
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She said her outdoor seating permit requires her to put tables as close to her building as possible, away from the sidewalk’s curb. If Winnetka can let one business have an outdoor seating plan with curbside tables, which is the case in Keating’s table plan, it should be allowed for everybody, Ryndak said. She said doing so could give her two more outdoor tables.
Bahan said sidewalk widths aren’t consistent in Winnetka, which means staff has to work on a case-by-case basis with every seating request, taking things like the location of tree grates, street poles, and fire service connections into consideration, as well as the need to keep a clear pedestrian path. In this case, he said, it made more sense to bring tables out to the curb because the location did have such obstacles.
Keating’s request was made on his behalf by the owners of Orrington Jewelers, 553 Lincoln Ave., which sits next door to Stacked and Folded. It would allow him to place some of his tables in front of Orrington. Bahan said he couldn’t recall another case where one business asked for a permit on behalf of another, but that village staff reviewed it and thought it was appropriate to bring to council.
Bahan also told Trustee Scott Myers that if Ryndak were to present the village with a similar business arrangement with the business to her east, it would give her a chance to expand her seating.
However, he told Cripe that he would check with the public works department to see if anything could be done on her behalf before the 2016 summer season was over.
One option might be to use some of the diagonal parking spaces in front of the store for tables, he said, “but you lose those spaces for the season.” The village can look at more long-term alternatives as it considers its comprehensive plan, he said.
Myers said temporarily allowing Café Aroma tables in two parking spaces fronting the restaurant might be considered a test case to see if such a proposal would work well.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy