Nassau Will Speed Process To Close Roads For Outdoor Dining

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — Nassau County Executive Laura Curran unveiled a plan at her daily press briefing to help downtown areas across the county transform themselves into socially-distanced outdoor dining areas while Long Island slowly reopens.

Speaking on Main Street in Farmingdale, Curran's plan is based on one the village recently enacted. Farmingdale plans to close down Main Street on Friday and Saturday nights and set out tables that are spaced a safe distance apart. This will create seating for about 400 people, Mayor Ralph Ekstrand said. Customers will be able to order food to-go from restaurants and then eat at a table, or have their food delivered from the restaurant to their table.

Curran plans to initiate a process to streamline the permit application for municipalities to close county roads for this purpose. She said her administration is committing to approving the applications within a week of receiving them.

"I know government isn't known for being nimble, but my team assures me we can get this done," Curran said.

Curran said there are a "couple dozen" communities in Nassau that have county roads as their main street that could take advantage of the expedited permit process. It would not affect municipalities that have town, city or village roads as their main streets. However, Curran said the county is happy to share its toolkit and process with any municipality that wants it to help streamline its own permit process.

In addition, Curran said the county is also working to address another question it often receives from small businesses: where to get personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees.

To help facilitate this, the county and the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) are investing $500,000 to purchase 1,000 PPE kits which will be donated to small businesses. The county's portion of the money is coming from federal funds that were set aside.

The kits contain a no-contact digital thermometer, face shields, masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes. "It's a good starter kit for so many of our businesses," Curran said.

Applications to receive one of the kits begin Monday, and they will be awarded on a first come, first served basis. Curran said that they are designed to go to small businesses with fewer than 20 employees, as well as minority and women-owned businesses, as well as those that may have lost out to money from the federal Paycheck Protection Program.

To apply for one of the PPE kits, visit www.boostnassau.net starting on Monday.