Ulster County to offer county-owned lots for outdoor dining and encourages municipalities to suspend local ordinances that would hinder the economic recovery of the food service industry

KINGSTON, N.Y. - Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan today during his Facebook Live Town Hall discussed Phase 2 reopening and outlined his Outdoor Dining Initiative. Through advocacy at the State level, opening up county-owned parking lots to add seating capacity, and the signing of an Executive Order to encourage municipalities to suspend local ordinances and zoning laws, Ulster County has taken a number of steps to help local businesses owners and ensure that residents can have a safe dining experience.

“After successfully lobbying the State to allow for outdoor dining, we are doing everything in our power to assist our local restaurants and ensure that residents can have a safe dining experience,” County Executive Pat Ryan said. “My office and the Office of Economic Development are working non-stop to meet the needs of our business community and we stand ready to help ensure that our businesses can reopen in a safe and responsible way.”

“The Chamber of Commerce would like to thank Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan for his support of our many great local restaurants, cafes and diners, through his new initiatives announced today,” Ulster County Chamber of Commerce President Ward Todd said. “The Chamber looks forward to the sharing of available public space to benefit the restaurants who want to offer outdoor dining, which will be especially beneficial to our smaller boutique restaurants that have limited outside capacity. In addition, we believe the outdoor dining guide and map will be an extremely valuable resource that will be a great benefit to all of our restaurants. It is our hope that outdoor dining will help spur our economic recovery and serve as a highly visible sign that Ulster County is open for business.”

"I applaud County Executive Ryan and his team for making these outdoor spaces available to our business community and for always taking a creative approach to problem solving,” Ulster County Legislator Abe Uchitelle, said. “With this initiative restaurants in my district who are eager to reopen but have limited outdoor space on-premises will be able go back to work and residents from all over Ulster County will be able to enjoy our city in a socially distant outdoor environment."

Starting on Friday, June 12, 2020, from Friday at 5p.m. through Monday at 6 a.m., any food-service business in the general vicinity may erect outdoor table seating in designated County parking lots.

These include the County Courthouse parking lot, the Ulster County employees' lot on Main Street between Clinton and Fair Streets, and the lot located at the Ulster County Probation Department on 733 Broadway in Kingston.

The food-service establishments must use or make available disinfecting wipes for the tables and seating they have set up between each delivery to such table, and no reusable condiments may be left on the tables. Each food-service establishment setting up such tables shall also provide publicly available hand sanitizer on or at their tables.

The food-service establishments must use or make available disinfecting wipes for the tables and seating they have set up between each delivery to such table, and no reusable condiments may be left on the tables. Each food-service establishment setting up such tables shall also provide publicly available hand sanitizer on or at their tables.

County Executive Ryan has also signed an Executive Order that encourages municipalities to suspend certain local ordinances and zoning laws that would hinder the economic recovery of the food service industry.

All businesses in New York State will be required to develop their own safety plans before reopening, in alignment with Governor Cuomo’s NY Forward Plan. While plans do not have to be submitted to New York State for approval, they must be retained on the premises of the business and be made available to the New York State Department of Health (DOH) or local health or safety authorities in the event of an inspection.

Safety plan templates are available by visiting https://forward.ny.gov/industries-reopening-phase and guidance and resources specific to Ulster County can be found at https://covid19.ulstercountyny.gov/businesses/

There are currently 1,766 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 83 fatalities in Ulster County.

For additional information about COVID-19 visit: https://ulstercountyny.gov/coronavirus

Ulster County COVID-19 Hotline: 845-443-8888

NYS Coronavirus Information Hotline: 888-364-3065

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