As the warmer weather approaches, the City of Bristol will continue to support outdoor dining as the pandemic continues, the Mayor’s Office announced on Friday.

“As a result of the Governor’s Executive Orders in 2020, the City will be offering a streamlined approval process allowing restaurants to quickly continue what they did last year; establish outdoor dining, and in some cases, expand outdoor dining,” said Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu.

“Because of the success of outdoor dining in 2020, many local restaurants and diners have expressed interest in making outdoor dining permanent,” stated Economic Development Director Justin Malley. “The City recognizes that outdoor dining in Bristol is attractive to both restaurant owners and diners. As a result, City officials discussed a new streamlined process for restaurants to offer outdoor dining on a permanent basis.”

 For outdoor dining areas that are 500 square feet or under, restaurant owners will need to complete a zoning permit that will be reviewed by the Building Department.

 For outdoor dining areas larger than 500 square feet restaurant owners will need to complete and submit a site plan for review and approval by the Zoning Commission. These site plans have the potential of being bundled together for review by the Zoning Commission at their April meeting.

Last year, the City deployed a team of employees from Engineering, Economic Development, Building, Health, Fire Marshall and Police Traffic divisions to expedite the creation of outdoor zones.

“While many of the restaurants who did it last year can re-open easily again under the Governor’s Executive Orders, these orders are scheduled to expire on April 20th , so we are trying to get ahead of what will need to be done if they do lapse,” said the Mayor.