Frustrated with city, El Dorado Kitchen and Girl & the Fig remove Sonoma Plaza parklets

Sonoma’s curbside dining program is leaving a sour taste for some restaurant operators who say they’re receiving mixed signals about the rules regulating the street-front service areas, or parklets, allowed under the city’s Sonoma Al Fresco program.

This week, that bubbling frustration caused two Plaza restaurants to remove their parklets.

The parklets were established at the onset of the pandemic when, in May 2020, the council approved the Al Fresco program, which allowed food and drink establishments to temporarily encroach their service areas into frontage sidewalk and parking spaces at a time when indoor service was prohibited due to the health crisis. Additionally, the block of First Street East that runs south of Napa Street was closed to vehicular traffic to allow Maya Restaurant and Pangloss Cellars wine-tasting room to utilize the street to serve customers.

But in its haste to launch the program and keep food businesses financially afloat during the closures, the city instituted few regulations for the new structures.

“Requirements for outdoor dining were minimal and construction varied, resulting in aesthetic issues and a general lack of cohesion,” city staff noted in its May report on the parklets.

A recent survey conducted by the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce to gauge downtown business support for the parklets showed “most businesses expressed a desire to improve the appearance of many of the outdoor dining areas and to make other improvements as appropriate.”

Both the Al Fresco program and the closure of First Street East are set to expire Oct. 31. The council is deliberating whether to extend the program indefinitely and, if so, what sort of safety regulations and design standards would be required of businesses taking part. The council is slated to give further consideration to the program at its June 1 meeting.

In the meantime, some restaurants are already abandoning the program, and breaking down their parklets out of frustration.

John Toulze, president of the Girl & the Fig restaurant at 110 W. Spain St., described the city’s program as “dysfunctional” as he and workers spent Thursday morning removing the restaurant’s parklet.

“We’re taking (the parklet) out and not even dealing with them,” said Toulze about the city and its program. “I’m going to get off your space and you can deal with all the other parklets.”

Toulze expressed a litany of frustrations over the program, from inconsistent structural standards to uncertainty over whether the program will be extended.

“They do have some legitimate concerns about how some of the parklets look and are being used,” Toulze said. “But nobody is giving us any direction that, if we make these capital improvements, can we keep them past October?”

The lack of a clear commitment from the city was also a deal breaker for El Dorado Kitchen, which on May 23 removed its wooden parklet.

“The city not knowing what it wants and changing their mind every two moments — we were tired of spending money on it without any commitment from the city,” said Joel Hoachuck, general manager of the restaurant at 405 First St. W. “We’re done with that, we’ll take it down. No more parklet.”

On May 13, interim Sonoma City Manager Sue Casey sent a letter to the 14 parklet operators in the program outlining a set of guidelines that addresses safety, Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, design standards and the type of furniture allowed, among other elements.

The letter also notes the prohibition of several types of parklet coverings, including tents, pop-up canopies, tent sidewalls or curtains, sunshades and sunscreens.

Also prohibited is the use of gas or propane heaters, visible orange water walls, trash containers, busing stations, signage and furniture in disrepair. The deadline to remove prohibited items is June 10, according to the May 13 letter. A follow-up letter dated May 23 asks that the tent sidewalls, gas heaters, trash containers, busing stations and signage be removed by Memorial Day weekend.

“In the original guidelines they encouraged us to use gas heaters, now we’ve got the fire marshal on our property saying we can’t use them,” Toulze said. “Now going into Memorial Day, you’re giving me five days (to remove items)? I can’t run a business this way.”

Casey said she can appreciate the frustrations some are voicing about the situation.

“The pandemic was devastating financially for us all, but especially for our restaurants, and I understand that deeply,” Casey told the Index-Tribune. “Having outdoor dining played not only a critical role for the restaurants but also for our tourist economy, and still does, as many people continue to prefer that type of dining experience.”

Casey said city staff is working with parklet owners to address any safety and ADA issues, as well as some aesthetic clean up. “In addition, we will be meeting with them in the next couple of days to clear up any miscommunications,” she said.

The Parklet Ad Hoc Committee, comprised of City Council members Bob Felder and Kelso Barnett, will present its recommendations to the rest of the council June 1. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Council Chambers, 177 First St. W.

Email Jason Walsh at Jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.