A bill that would set standards for cities and towns to regulate outdoor dining has landed on Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee’s desk.
The bill approved by the General Assembly on Thursday would let communities limit the capacity of outdoor dining but would not allow municipalities to ban outdoor dining altogether.
The bill’s sponsors — Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee and Sen. Alana DiMario — said the expansion of outdoor dining during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic helped countless restaurants survive during a time when people couldn’t gather in crowded eateries without risking their health.
“Without outdoor dining, our diverse and world-renowned restaurant scene would look far different today and the state would have missed out on the millions of tax dollars that our tourism and hospitality industries generate yearly,” McEntee, a Democrat, said in a written statement.
The bill would let municipalities adopt ordinances that limit outdoor dining on public property, limit the capacity of outdoor dining, and require barriers for outdoor dining areas that border parking lots or roadways.