MANCHESTER, N.H. – On Tuesday night, the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen Committee on Public Safety, Health and Traffic recommended the return of expanded street seating this summer, even if it’s with a slightly different format.
Restaurants looking to apply for an encumbrance permit this year, which would allow them put seating on parking spaces. However, this year it would cost $420 per space for the usage of the space from May 1 to Oct. 31. That figure came from a average of what it would cost the city in lost revenue from parking meter fees and higher rate for permits to allow construction vehicles the use of spaces.
In 2020 and 2021, usage of the parking spaces was free for downtown businesses as they struggled to bring back in-person customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year however, Manchester Economic Development Coordinator Jodie Nazaka said that the city could not justify offering the spaces for free this year now that COVID-19 infection rates have lowered and the city is still trying to recoup lost income from reduced parking meter fees over the past several years.
Nazaka also noted that Portsmouth is charging $1500 for restaurants using parking spaces for seating in a similar plan this summer.
Applicants for the encumbrance permits may also apply for up to $10,000 from the city’s Community Event and Activation (CEAG) Grants through the Planning and Community Development Department. The CEAG grants use ARPA funding to help organizations putting on events that will reconnect the community following the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic or small businesses seeking to rebound from lost business during the pandemic.
Nazaka said that small business grants are limited to businesses with less than 15 employees and can show they lost at least 50 percent of their business in 2020 and 2021. For non-events, the grant is also subject to a 25 percent match by the applicant, with the monetary amount in the form of artwork on the jersey barriers that would cordon off the parking spaces used for restaurant seating the most likely form of match expected from the grant recipients.
The proposal now goes to the full board of Mayor and Aldermen for final approval.
