The weather right now may not be calling for it, but officials in Clarendon Hills are continuing to move forward plans to improve the outdoor dining environment in the village’s downtown area.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the village, for the first time, converted some public parking for outdoor dining use. Prior to that, the option existed for outdoor dining only on the sidewalk.
During the first year of the pandemic, the village had six restaurants using space in public parking areas, and barriers were put up to block those spaces. Since then, the village has been setting aside more permanent, and pleasant, spaces for al fresco dining.
“This year we only expect one (restaurant) in the parking area, as we are building parklets on Park and Railroad Avenues to permanently accommodate those areas, ” Village Manager Zach Creer said. “Overall, sidewalks and parklets will accommodate seven restaurants downtown.”
Social distancing requirements and preferences made outdoor dining popular during the early days of the pandemic. While those days are gone, the appetite for outdoor dining remains, Creer said.
“It’s still very popular,” he said. “We are looking to make it permanent and remove the temporary look.”
Creer said seven of the village’s downtown eateries offer outdoor dining, something that many diners want and that benefits the village.
“It boosts sales and food taxes by increasing seating by 30% or more,” he said.
Creer said aesthetics are the only complaints the village has received about its outdoor dining, something that is also being addressed this year with formalized standards and a permit process.
“COVID opened a lot of commuter spaces, so on net we have increased downtown customer parking by moving commuter spaces and adding spaces in the right-of-way, which was previously underutilized,” he said.
Creer said the village will be creating permanent outdoor dining spaces by using Tax Increment Financing funding.
“And new businesses, like Sparrow Coffee (at Park and Prospect Avenues), will be incorporating it in their designs,” he said.
The remaining restaurant using a barricaded parking area for dining is IL Mio, at 30 S. Prospect Ave. Creer said the space presents a challenge in that it doesn’t offer a clear way to eliminate the parking barricades in favor of a parklet. Village staff are working on a solution, but that likely won’t come until 2026.
Village President Eric Tech said the priorities for outdoor dining in Clarendon Hills are to “improve safety and enhance accessibility.”
“I feel that outdoor dining creates a vibrant and desirable downtown environment. But, it is time we move beyond COVID-era solutions, such as concrete barriers, which belong on the tollway, not on our village streets,” he said. “We can dress them up with tarps and other amenities, but at the end of the day, they are not in keeping with the character which we are trying to create in our downtown area.”
Tech said the new village standards for outdoor dining will create “safe, accessible and attractive solutions,” which will be permanently part of the downtown cityscape.
“We will do this while enhancing downtown parking options,” he said.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
