Rocklin relaxes rules for outdoor dining for restaurants, bars through holidays

Rocklin City officials approved an urgency ordinance last week in an effort to help restaurants and bars extend their outdoor dining infrastructure through the holidays.

The ordinance reduces regulations and creates a permit process for temporary outdoor structures at restaurants and bars, staff said in a meeting last week. The ordinance is aimed at helping business owners preserve their outdoor dining infrastructure and expand business while still keeping public health guidance in mind, according to meeting documents.

Kathrin Gross, owner of Kathrin’s Biergarten in Rocklin, said the ordinance is vital to business owners like her who depend on their outdoor dining infrastructure to cater to patrons who are still worried about COVID rates but want to enjoy local restaurants.

Gross said she extended her restaurant and brewpub outside when the pandemic hit, investing in tents, lighting and heaters. That move helped keep her business afloat, she said in public comment.

For small businesses, “that’s what’s bringing people into Rocklin because we are doing something different,” she said. “... this is what helped us get through the pandemic and we need this.”

The ordinance requires businesses to get a permit from the city and get written permission from property owners in the event a business wants to extend outdoor dining into a shared parking lot or private property. The permit process is simplified to allow for faster approval if all requirements are met, meeting documents said.

“We were one of the first cities to allow our restaurants to do this,” Councilmember Joe Patterson said.

“We can do this right and we can extend this and enhance what our businesses are able to do in their recovery efforts coming at the back end of COVID hopefully,” Councilmember Ken Broadway said.

The City Council unanimously approved the ordinance.