Economic & Sustainable Development: Parklets

The Challenge

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, restaurants were required to limit indoor seating. Additionally, many people felt more comfortable dining outdoors. In conjunction with the local business community, the City of Bloomington’s Department of Economic and Sustainable Development (ESD) sought ways to help local restaurants and shops change their physical  layout. For some areas of town, it was possible to close roads to motorized vehicles during the weekends, however, that  was not a valid option for all parts of town. Motivated in part by the idea that cities should and can learn from each other’s projects and innovations, ESD conducted research to see how other cities implemented outdoor dining options, and how they might be tailored to fit Bloomington’s needs and concerns.

The Idea

For restaurants not immediately located near Kirkwood and, hence, unable to take advantage of expanded seating initiatives there, ESD created a solution: parklets. A parklet is a contiguous group of parking spaces repurposed for outdoor dining adjacent to a restaurant. Since August 5, 19 parking spaces servicing 13 restaurants have been converted to parklets. This expanded seating provided additional physically distanced seating for the adjacent restaurants. The spaces are protected from traffic by orange water-filled barriers. Additional parklets may be implemented based on requests from downtown restaurants through this online application:  https://forms.gle/8YLAuUVmE8PAjmbY8.  Additional requests are considered on a case-by-case basis, balancing needs for expanded seating with availability of parking, safety, feasibility of implementation, and other factors. Any additional parklets will be implemented on a biweekly basis on Wednesdays. Before a parklet can be established, ESD ensures all affected businesses offer unanimous consensus and approval. A model originally meant to last until September 30th as a trial period, the Department of Public Works extended the permissible use and city promotion of parklets through the end of 2020.

The Cost

There is no cost to the restaurants to have a parklet during this pilot program. There are labor costs associated with putting up the barriers to create the parklets, but that is why ESD decided on implementation days every other Wednesday in order to concentrate work efforts all at once rather than just sporadically responding to individual business requests for parklets. The biggest cost associated with this innovation relates to the revenue lost from meters at these parking spaces. 

The Benefit

The primary benefits of parklets are that they increase the potential for sales by local businesses while protecting the health and wellness of patrons and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. By encouraging outdoor dining, these parklets aim to limit transmission of the disease. Unique partnerships have also arisen from the implementation of parklets due to  neighboring businesses sharing the space. For example, the Village Pub and Cup & Kettle Tea Co. took advantage of their shared parklet to offer specials off each other’s menus. Since their target audiences, and even the hours of the day in which they are open, vary widely, they have found their parklet to be the beginning of a mutually beneficial business relationship.

Metadata

City Department(s): Economic and Sustainable Development, Public Works, Parking, Office of the Mayor, Fire Department

City Point of Contact: Kaisa Goodman(Special Projects Manager, Department of Economic & Sustainable Development)

Partner(s): Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, Downtown Bloomington Inc, Bloomington Chamber of Commerce

Partner(s) Point(s) of Contact: N/A

Type of Innovation: Parking; Brand New Service

Date Implemented: August 2020