You may soon be able to enjoy your favorite burger or pastry outside, if the Peoria City Council approves a trial run of a new sidewalk cafe concept.
The outdoor dining pilot program for the Central Business District bears some similarities to the parklet project on West Main Street back in 2018, which converted curbside parking space into a commercial space fenced off from traffic. This pilot program instead converts existing sidewalk space into a dining area.
"We wanted to test to see if we could if utilizing outdoor dining as a placemaking, which means it allows for you to make the street a little bit more active, and it makes the sidewalk active, activating the sidewalk dining," said Peoria assistant city manager Kimberly Richardson. "And then also adding capacity to those businesses to allow for additional customers to come in and utilize their services."
Parklets were ruled out both because of speeding concerns, and the upcoming two-way conversion of Adams and Jefferson streets downtown.
Four businesses will participate in the new pilot program: Ulrich's Rebellion Room, Ardor Breads & Provisions, the Neon Bison, and Kickback on Fulton. Because the sidewalk space in the 600 block of Main is too narrow to accommodate dining as-is, Richardson said a pedestrian walkway or "pedlet" can be used to temporarily extend the sidewalk.
"That will give us the ability to maintain our ADA requirements," she said. "Individuals can still use that as a ... walking path and the businesses and participate with their outdoor sidewalk experience."
Two planter boxes would shield the walkway from traffic. The concept was developed with Urbnkind, a Peoria-based urban design and planning firm. Modstreet is the recommended vendor for the materials.
The sidewalk cafes would be seasonal. Individual businesses would be responsible for the upkeep of the outdoor dining areas, while the city would maintain the fencing around them. The participating businesses aren't obligated to continue with the sidewalk cafes after the pilot period.
If approved, the pilot project would begin this spring. It would be funded by just over $155,000 in American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, funds.
"There's a lot of different things to look at. The first step is let's try this. Let's see how it works over the summer. And then if we see ability to expand because they have the success, then we can re-engage the council city council about what the next strategy will look for moving in the future," Richardson said.
