REHOBOTH BEACH, De. - Many Rehoboth Beach sidewalks, like the one along Wilmington Avenue are not wide enough to accommodate outdoor dining under the city's new regulations.
Mayor Stan Mills says the tighter regulations on outdoor dining come as all indoor dining is back at full capacity.
"Some restaurants are not going to be able to achieve what others can and unfortunately that's just part of the geography of the city," he said.
Kate Walls, owner of Shorebreak Lodge and Restaurant says outdoor dining was a huge success.
Walls says it is unfortunate her sidewalk is not big enough for outdoor dining.
"With the barriers it allowed us to have four tables outside which would seat 12 people so when you take that away you're taking away about 24, 36 covers a night. That restricts us just to our patio here which is wonderful but we already had permits for that," she said.
Mayor Mills says the city lost parking revenue by closing off parking spots to allow for more outdoor dining.
"We now restore the entire town area, all the metered spaces back to paid metered spaces," he said.
The Mayor says businesses will have to reapply for their outdoor dining licenses with the new regulations in mind. The deadline to do so is June 1.
Mayor Mills says there must be a minimum of six to eight feet for outdoor dining and minimum of 8 to 10 feet for pedestrian walkways.
