By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
O’Donnell’s Pour House will become the latest restaurant in Sea Isle City to add outdoor dining as a way to attract customers during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Pour House received approval Tuesday night from Sea Isle’s planning board for a new al fresco dining area next door to the Irish-themed restaurant and tavern on Landis Avenue.
Occupying the corner of 39th Street and Landis, the outdoor dining area will be covered by a large tent and include artificial turf as the surface.
It will contain up to 228 seats, but probably closer to 175 will actually be used because of social distancing requirements for tables to be spaced at least six feet apart, officials said.
“The tables can change based on the revolving situation with this pandemic,” Mark Gibson, an engineer representing the Pour House, told the planning board members.
O’Donnell’s Pour House is owned by brothers Ralph and Pat Pasceri and their business partner Michael Roberts. They also own the Ocean Drive bar and nightclub in Sea Isle on Landis Avenue.
They bought an old house at 3901 Landis Avenue last year and demolished it in May to create space for the outdoor dining area next to O’Donnell’s, in the heart of Sea Isle’s downtown business district.
Restaurants throughout Sea Isle are adding outdoor dining areas to accommodate their customers during the pandemic. Gov. Phil Murphy gave New Jersey restaurants permission to begin outdoor dining on Monday, but has not yet announced when they will be able to open indoors amid lingering concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.
Now that it has planning board approval, O’Donnell’s plans to begin construction immediately on the outdoor dining area to capitalize on the arrival of the summer tourism season.
Gibson noted that it will be a spot for “safe dining in the current situation our country is in with this pandemic.”
Outdoor dining will be a seasonal attraction at O’Donnell’s. The tent will be removed after the tourism season is over, Gibson said.
O’Donnell’s liquor license will allow the restaurant to sell alcoholic beverages in the outdoor dining area. However, drinking will not be permitted later than 10 p.m. and the dining area must close by 11 p.m., according to Sea Isle’s regulations for outdoor dining.
In addition to being covered by a tent, the outdoor dining area will be surrounded by a 3-foot-high vinyl fence and will include landscaping around the perimeter. There will be no porta-potties. Instead, the restrooms will be inside a trailer.
A variance was granted by the planning board allowing O’Donnell’s to have two signs for the outdoor dining area, one more than is allowed by Sea Isle’s zoning laws
The new dining area will not include any parking. Jon Batastini, the planning board’s solicitor, explained that parking was not required for the project.
One resident who spoke during the planning board meeting expressed concern that the outdoor dining area will exacerbate a parking shortage for homes that surround the downtown commercial district.
The meeting was held by teleconference because of the pandemic, but members of the public were allowed to listen in and comment.
All but one member of the public spoke in favor of O’Donnell’s project. They said it would help to generate new business for Sea Isle’s downtown district. They also praised the Pasceri brothers and Roberts for the way they have run O’Donnell’s and the Ocean Drive over the years.
“They’re just fantastic neighbors,” said Jerry Brangenberg, whose family formerly owned the old house at 3901 Landis Avenue that was sold and demolished to make room for O’Donnell’s outdoor dining area.
