outdoor dining

There are many cities around the Capital Region that are lobbying to have permanent outdoor dining. This was a lucrative way for restaurants to get around the strict guidelines during the pandemic. Now many places want to continue to offer that option. Another village has the approval to continue.

The plan to extend the ability for downtown Saratoga Springs restaurants to have outdoor dining has been in the works for quite some time. Now the bill has passed where, for the next three years, customers can dine outdoors without worrying about high traffic areas. This plan comes with a few road closures.

Other cities in the Capital Region have created outdoor dining spaces and prohibited traffic. Cohoes and Ballston Spa are two examples of very successful outdoor dining. If everything goes as planned, downtown Saratoga Springs will be next.

The restaurant industry has been hit hard during the pandemic and now that the weather is getting nicer, more restaurants will be able to accommodate a larger number of diners outside. Saratoga restaurants got a donation in the form of concrete to help them expand the number of tables they can have.

Ballston Spa is one of the area's first towns to announce that they will be closing streets to allow outdoor dining area to expand into the roads and parking lots.