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Page 3 of 5 <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org <br />Staff expected that most businesses who had applied by January 20, 2023, would have received their <br />Outdoor Business Activity permits in the fiscal year 2023-2024 and the budget line item was expected to <br />be close to zero. Not realizing extending the fee waiver required additional City Council action, staff <br />granted a fee waiver to two businesses that had applied by January 20, 2023. Staff believe that the spirit <br />in which the fee waiver was adopted – to help businesses defray the costs of implementing parklets – is <br />important. The fee waiver can still be a motivational tool for businesses to comply, especially those who <br />are very close to completing the process, and it can serve as a sign of the City’s business-friendly practices. <br />Accordingly, staff recommends an extension of the fee waiver for businesses which applied to the <br />program by January 20, 2023, and which receive their license agreement by October 31, 2024. Businesses <br />who applied after January 20, 2023, or who receive their license agreements after October 31, 2024, <br />would not be eligible for the first-year fee waiver. <br />Proposed Approach to Gain Compliance with City Outdoor Business Activity Program <br />Staff also recommend additional steps to bring non-compliant businesses into the Program. Fourteen <br />businesses have not resubmitted anything to the City since April 15, 2024. The approach to gain <br />compliance would vary based on two distinct groups of businesses: <br />1. Businesses which did not have structures prior to the pandemic and have not made progress to <br />come into compliance with the new program; and <br />2. Businesses which had parklet structures pre-pandemic that were built according to the codes at the <br />time <br />Group 1: For businesses who have been largely non-responsive since May 2024, staff recommend a <br />phased approach to gain compliance. This fall, City staff would notify businesses of an intent to initiate <br />enforcement, if their parklets and sidewalk cafes have not yet received their Outdoor Business Activity <br />permits, with the goal that non-permitted parklets and sidewalk cafés be removed from the public right <br />of way by the end of calendar year 2024. <br />Group 2: When the current Program Guidelines were adopted, the City terminated all previous programs, <br />and required that all businesses would need to come into compliance with the adopted Guidelines. Staff <br />notified businesses that had parklet structures pre-pandemic of this requirement in 2022. The new <br />program was intended to provide a predictable way for businesses that had conducted business outdoors <br />during the pandemic to invest in longer-term parklets and sidewalk cafes and improve the appearance <br />and aesthetic of downtown. Recognizing some unintended consequences of the Program on parklets and <br />sidewalk cafés built pre-pandemic, staff plan to return in early 2025 with revisions to the ordinance and <br />the Program Guidelines. Staff intend to recommend changes to Program Guidelines that allow pre- <br />Program parklets and structures to remain if they do not present health and safety concerns. <br />6.G. - Page 3 of 7 <br />132