Dear Al Fresco Participants and Interested Stakeholders,
In May 2020, the City introduced a new program, LA Al Fresco, to allow for expanded outdoor dining activities for qualifying food establishments. The Al Fresco program was created through the Mayor’s local emergency powers as a temporary program to aid owners of local food establishments who were adversely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic due to the related public health restrictions. The program offered a pathway to create outdoor dining areas in the public right-of-way and on private property without requiring most of the current regulations in the Zoning Code. This created a lifeline for many businesses, and was implemented with a streamlined process and minimal cost to participants.
The response to the Al Fresco program has been overwhelmingly positive, and over 2,500 establishments have taken advantage of the program since it was introduced. The program has enabled many of these local businesses to keep their doors open, and help to inject a new vibrancy and energy into our commercial corridors at a time when many of these areas are suffering from the impacts of the pandemic. The success of the program has resulted in a desire and direction from the City Council to establish a permanent Al Fresco program which will reimagine outdoor dining regulations in the Zoning Code (
CF 20-1074). The City Council adopted these instructions in March of this year.
As a first step in realizing the goal of a reimagined outdoor dining program, City Planning created a survey for participants in the current, and still active, temporary Al Fresco program as well as a survey geared toward the general public and interested parties. These surveys can be accessed at the links below, and each survey can be completed in 5 minutes or less.
