By Donald Wittkowski
Restaurant customers who dine al fresco in Sea Isle City would have more time to savor their meals and drinks this summer under a plan tentatively approved Tuesday by a sharply divided City Council.
The governing body voted to consider a series of proposed changes to the city’s outdoor dining regulations, including extending the hours for eating and drinking from the current 11 p.m. curfew to midnight.
But the issue is far from over. Next, Council must introduce an ordinance to formalize the longer hours, as well as other proposed changes to the regulations. That vote could come as soon as Council’s next meeting on May 20. If Council introduces the ordinance, it would later hold a public hearing on the measure before taking a final vote.
The proposed changes survived their first test Tuesday in a succession of close votes by Council on whether to move forward on a draft version of the ordinance. Three of the votes were by a 3-2 margin, while a fourth was 4-1. Councilman Jack Gibson was the only member to vote no each time.
In earlier discussions about the outdoor dining regulations, Gibson objected to some of the proposed changes and said he saw no reason to try to rush them through before the summer.
Proponents on Council hope to have the changes ready in time for the busy summer tourism season. However, there will be a sunset clause that would allow Council to revisit the issue in a year to see if the regulations need to be revised again.
“You try it for a season. If you don’t like it, change it,” Councilman John Divney said.
Council President William Kehner stressed that it would largely be the responsibility of the restaurant owners to make sure the changes go smoothly.
“It puts the onus on the businesses, I feel, to control themselves,” said Kehner, who cast the deciding votes each time it ended 3-2.
The only restaurant representative to speak publicly during the Council meeting Tuesday was Joe DiBona, the owner of La Piazza Brick Oven Pizza & Ravioli House at 4911 Landis Ave.
DiBona said he believes longer hours for outdoor dining and drinking could make Sea Isle a more attractive vacation resort to tourists.
“I think we’re catering to people who make Sea Isle, Sea Isle,” he said. “I want people to think of La Piazza and Sea Isle City as a place where they can have a great time.”
Over the summer, DiBona offers outdoor dining to his customers until 11 p.m. He said he has no immediate plans to extend the hours to midnight if the change is given final approval by Council.
DiBona, though, noted that he would not try to chase out any stragglers if they lingered at their tables until midnight.
“I would stay until 12. I’ll stay until the last table,” he said.
Introduced in 2008, sidewalk café-style dining has been hugely popular among summer tourists. Divney has credited the attraction for creating a more upscale ambiance for Sea Isle’s culinary scene and erasing the city’s image as “a bar town.”
Divney lobbied for changes to the regulations after listening to suggestions from the restaurant community and the Sea Isle City Chamber of Commerce and Revitalization on ways to enhance outdoor dining.
“Sidewalk dining has been very successful in town. It should continue to be successful, with improvements if possible,” Divney said in an interview.
Restaurant owners are seeking an extension for sidewalk dining from 11 p.m. to midnight, but they have made no mention of wanting longer hours for outdoor alcohol sales, said Christopher Glancey, Chamber of Commerce president.
The proposed changes to the dining regulations include four separate parts. Each one was voted on by Council on Tuesday. The votes cleared the way for the proposed changes to be incorporated in an omnibus ordinance.
The first change would extend the dining hours from 11 p.m. to midnight. The second would allow restaurant patrons to have drinks with their dinner until midnight, also an hour later than the current regulations.
Extending the drinking hours has generated the most concern among the Council members. Councilwoman Mary Tighe has said she does not want to see sidewalk dining become “sidewalk drinking.”
Tighe joined with Gibson to vote against the proposal to extend the dining and drinking hours, but they fell short in their efforts to block the plan over the support of Kehner, Divney and Councilman Frank Edwardi.
“I think 11 o’clock is an acceptable hour,” Tighe said.
In a third proposed change, the restaurant industry wants the city to end the requirement that all tables and chairs must be removed from the outdoor dining areas after 11 p.m. As part of the draft changes in the dining regulations, Council will consider allowing tables and chairs to stay out all night.
Currently, tables and chairs must be taken inside at the end of the night and then brought back outside the next day – a cumbersome and time-consuming process, the restaurant owners say.
A final proposal that will be considered by Council is whether to extend the hours for outdoor bands at bars and restaurants from the current curfew of 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. Council will consider allowing bands to play until 10 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
