Malibu Faces Challenges In Making Outdoor Dining Permanent

MALIBU, CA – The City Council agrees: Everybody loves enjoying a meal outside. But the members also know that allowing restaurants to make their pandemic-era outdoor seating permanent comes with a host of challenges – particularly when it comes to managing parking.

During the pandemic, Malibu – like countless other cities – allowed restaurant owners to add tables outside, including on parking spaces, in a streamlined process. The 17 permits for expanded outdoor seating are still in effect today, but they’re due to expire once the city rescinds its COVID-19 emergency declaration.

The council hasn’t given any indication as to when they’re going to end the emergency, but the members agreed Monday night that before they do, the council needs to lay out a framework for permanent outdoor dining.

“At the end of the day, I think it’s something well worth having,” Councilmember Doug Stewart said. “If we end up adding 15 more [seats] or 20 more [seats] for a restaurant, we need to make sure there’s enough parking.”

The council directed city staff to draft options that take into consideration the parking needs of a restaurant, opportunities to streamline the permitting process and stopgap measures that would continue to allow restaurants to offer outdoor seating until a permanent solution is on the books. Staff will return to the council at a later date with those options.

Other considerations include the impact that any additional seats will have on wastewater capacity and the way that structures built for outdoor seating will be checked by code enforcement.

“If we can make this as clean and simple as possible to allow [restaurants] to continue to do this, I think that would be a good idea,” resident Howard Rudzki said.

Resident Jo Drummond said that if the council is going to streamline permitting for restaurants, it should make it easier for homeowners to construct their small projects.