Dupage Policy Journal

At its Dec. 19 meeting, the city council of Elmhurst discussed and voted on a resolution extending outdoor dining in the downtown area.

"In an effort to balance the needs, interests and range of opinions of residents and businesses, the committee is recommending a program that makes almost no one happy," Elmhurst City Council Trustee Dannee Polomsky said. "A true compromise. The committee is proposing a plan to maintain some aspects of outdoor dining, but to significantly reduce parklet dining in the following manner." 

Since the COVID pandemic, there has been an extension of outdoor dining allowances in the downtown area of Elmhurst. It has been very popular with residents and businesses, so the zoning board unanimously recommended an extended version of the outdoor dining plan to continue the program, with no specific expiration date but a promise to review it in the spring of 2024. 

The new agreement limits the parklets, or parking spaces turned into dining spaces, to two per business, restricts them to between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and costs $2500 per parklet for that period of time. Sidewalk dining continues from April 1-Nov. 30. These compromises come from restaurants using the parklets, but businesses complain that it takes away valuable parking spaces from their customers. 

There was an attempt at an amendment to the proposed plan, saying that the plan would run for two years and then any changes would be made before the summer of 2023. This amendment failed to pass, however, the report that supports the continuation of outdoor dining did pass so it will continue in downtown Elmhurst.