Owners of restaurants in Riverside that feature outdoor dining could be required to replace barriers taller than 42 inches by the end of next year, though officials are looking into ways to help alleviate the costs.
Trustees initially seemed split on what height to limit outdoor barriers to in their discussion on Thursday, April 16, where Community Development Director Anne Cyran brought feedback on the issue from Riverside’s economic development and planning and zoning commissions.
The board had directed those advisory commissions to opine on the proposed new dining standards after its most recent discussion of them in March.
“The range [of barrier heights] recommended in other communities is 36 to 42 inches, and staff recommended a 42-inch height as a starting point for discussion,” Cyran said. “The PZC recommended that a 42- or 46-inch barrier may be acceptable.”
She said the board could include a provision giving itself the ability to approve taller barriers in areas “that may require additional privacy” like near high-traffic thoroughfares or by the BNSF railroad.
Cyran said she had measured existing barriers in town between meetings.
“La Estancia’s barrier is 49 inches tall. Breakfast Hacienda’s is 44 inches tall. Cubanito Express has a barrier that has a 42-inch height along the length of it,” she said.
Officials also discussed allowing planters to function as barriers. Cyran said other communities tend to regulate the height of the planters to lower than other barriers and allow plants to grow above the limit, providing some transparency and visual interest.
During discussion, some trustees seemed to prefer a higher limit, around 46 or 48 inches, while Village President Doug Pollock advocated for a 36-inch limit based on his experience as a city planner, though the board ultimately reached a consensus of 42 inches.
“I think we need to go back to why we’re having these discussions. We currently don’t have outdoor dining standards; we want to have some minimum standards,” Trustee Jill Mateo said. “We want to make it inviting. We want people to go and say, ‘Wow, that looks really great.’ We should think hard about this and not just go with the maximum but [with] what really is shoulder level for somebody.”
Trustees also agreed to limit the heights of planters acting as barriers to 24 inches, not counting fences featuring planter boxes, and to install a minimum transparency requirement of 30% so that barriers cannot be wholly opaque.
When the discussion turned to the timeline for replacing barriers, Pollock suggested business owners not be allowed to wait until the end of a barrier’s useful lifespan to replace it, though he said the village ought to shoulder some of the burden.
“I heard a suggestion from a trustee this week that maybe we budget for 2027 to reestablish our facade grant program or downtown building grant program and that we include grant opportunities for people to bring these things into compliance, so we pay for a good chunk of it,” Pollock said. “If we’re going to have money in 2027 to pay for a good part of that cost, then my feeling is, by the end of 2027, let’s bring this into conformance.”
Staff and officials agreed to have the economic development commission weigh in on reinstating the grant program. Staff will draft an ordinance implementing the new outdoor dining regulations for trustees to vote on at an upcoming village board meeting.
