REHOBOTH/DEWEY BEACH, Del. - Representative Pete Schwartzkopf introduced House Bill 1 in December to allow restaurants to keep offering expanded outdoor dining and takeout alcohol.
"The businesses that have been able to adapt to that are the ones that have been able to make it during the summer and the winter," Schwartzkopf says.
Schwartzkopf says the restaurant industry has been hit hardest by COVID-19 restrictions and that he made the bill HB 1 to show how serious lawmakers are about helping these businesses recover.
"It's a great look," says Dewey Beach Commissioner Paul Bauer. "As you drive through town, you see people outdoors having fun and it's really just the spirit of Dewey."
The current codes that allow this popular dining experience and lifeline for restaurants are set to expire on March 31st, 2021. HB 1 would make that expiration date March 31st, 2022 instead.
"They have done everything they possibly can to keep their employees working and being paid through this time period, which has been very very difficult for them," Schwartzkopf says.
Almost every restaurant in Dewey Beach already had outdoor seating, but Bauer says seven more added tables and chairs outside thanks to the governor's order.That means almost every restaurant in town had outdoor dining in the summer of 2020. Bauer says the plan is to bring it up for approval with his fellow commissioners again if HB 1 becomes law.
"Given the choice of being indoors or outdoors, most people would choose outdoors, so it was a good fit for us and a good fit across the whole state," Bauer says.
Bauer says outdoor dining helps restaurants seat more customers with capacity limits on indoor dining. Blackwall Hitch Manager Jimmy Williamson agrees.
"100 percent," Williamson says. "Absolutely. If we didn't have that, we would've been so much more limited inside the restaurant and because we did have that outdoor dining, it created so much more space inside the restaurant."
The Blackwall Hitch had 8 tables and 32 seats on the sidewalk out front on Rehoboth Avenue in 2020 and Williamson plans to bring them back if the state and city allow it.
"Once people found out that it was like a cafe-style seating in Rehoboth, they loved it," Williamson says. "They jumped on it immediately."
If HB 1 one is approved and gets Governor Carney's signature, restaurants would have to make sure they get the town approvals, if necessary, for their expanded plans. Schwartzkopf says he's confident the governor will sign this before March and that restaurants will be able to finalize their outdoor dining plans before the summer season.
