Starting Friday, July 10, 2020 the City of Escondido will be reducing the travel lanes on Grand Avenue between Maple Street and Juniper Street in order to allow restaurants to create temporary outdoor dining locations. Traffic will be limited to one travel lane in each direction with the other lane serving as parking.
This effort is in response to the State’s July 7 shutdown order prohibiting indoor dining that has had an immediate impact on local businesses. City staff and the Downtown Business Association (DBA) have been working quickly to streamline the permitting process that would normally take much longer in order to assist restaurants in staying open and operating outdoors. The DBA has committed $10,000 for shade coverings, tables, and chairs to support this effort and are also reimbursing downtown businesses the $100 Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) permit fee to allow them to serve alcohol outside. The City will be providing temporary barriers in order to ensure the safety of diners and restaurant staff.
Outdoor dining supports social distancing while allowing local businesses to modify their operations in compliance with the health order. In addition to Grand Avenue, the City is working on the Business Recovery Temporary Use Permit that will assist businesses located throughout Escondido. For more information and assistance in navigating that process visit https://www.escondido.org/special-temporary-use-permits.aspx, contact Deputy Director of Economic Development Amber Tarrac at atarrac@escondido.org or 760-839-4587.
