Cary trustees look to reinstate popular outdoor dining setup on Spring Street

After getting overwhelmingly positive feedback from residents about outdoor dining on Spring Street last year, Cary village trustees and staff are looking to bring it back for 2021.

After COVID-19 restrictions last year closed indoor dining, many municipalities, including Cary, decided to allow outdoor dining areas in public locations during the summer and fall.

Cary provided picnic tables in several right-of-way locations in the village, and Spring Street was closed to traffic south of West Main Street to allow a larger outdoor dining area on the road to be shared by all downtown businesses, village staff said.

The village called it “Alfresco Alley on Spring Street.” Decorated with picnic tables, string lights and planters, and even featuring live music at times, the gathering space was welcomed by residents, according to village documents.

With this in mind, Cary now is exploring the possibility of reinstating “Alfresco Alley on Spring Street” later this year, a move village trustees expressed enthusiasm for during a Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday.

“This is a trend that is extremely popular throughout all the suburbs,” Trustee Ellen McAlpine said. “People love to get off the train or walk downtown. People are really enjoying that type of foot traffic. And I think we can improve upon it. ... The more people we have downtown, the better it is for everybody.”

If local businesses have concerns, McAlpine said, the village can try to alleviate or minimize them.

At Tuesday’s meeting, three options for outdoor dining were laid out for trustees.

Option one would keep “Alfresco Alley on Spring Street” the same as the 2020 pilot configuration. The location still would be the Spring Street pavement on the northern half of the block between West Main and Cary streets.

Roads would be completely closed to traffic for seven days a week from April through October. With this option, 11 parking spaces would be unavailable.

The second option given to the Village Board was to keep alfresco dining in the same spot but close Spring Street only on the weekends from April to October. Village staff said it would be challenging to place and remove tables weekly.

Option three would create parking stalls on the east side of Spring Street just south of West Main Street, with “parklets,” or public seating structures, being potentially sponsored by adjacent businesses or community groups.

An official vote on the matter was not taken, but the consensus from trustees was to choose the first option, meaning outdoor dining would be available every day through the early summer and fall months.

Trustee Christine Betz offered the idea of working with local businesses to create sponsorships.

Along with keeping outdoor dining on Spring Street, Trustee Dale Collier suggested expanding the idea on a limited basis to Main Street for a few weekends out of the summer months.

“There’s more businesses on those streets also that can benefit from it,” Collier said.

Village Administrator Jacob Rife said the village can look at Main Street further, although the potential challenges of having outdoor dining in this area came up during discussions on the topic last year.

“There were some logistical issues as far as moving traffic around,” Rife said.

Another idea the village is considering, Mayor Mark Kownick said, is a pop-up venue for some of the other restaurants in town on weekends.

“Just to say this is for the whole community,” Kownick said. “That’s something we should consider to give opportunities for people.”