Restaurants allowed to continue plaza use for extent of emergency proclamation

Restaurants can continue using the H and G Street plazas until the city’s emergency proclamation is rescinded, following a 7-0 Blaine City Council vote at its April 12 regular meeting.

City manager Michael Jones had recommended to council that if they wished to allow continued use of the plaza, they should extend it until June 30 which would be 75 days after all adults are eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine.

“I think it’s a workable option for the city manager, although it might not have been his top choice,” mayor Bonnie Onyon said during the meeting. “I think it’s certainly workable.”

After Whatcom County entered Phase 3 on March 22, Jones said he notified Drayton Harbor Oyster Company (DHO) – the only business using the plaza space – to remove its belongings before the end of the city’s 30-day compliance period on April 22. Councilmembers voted at their March 22 meeting to reevaluate the emergency order expiration date at the April 12 meeting.

DHO co-owner Steve Seymour said later in a phone interview that the restaurant appreciates the extension for plaza use, and was prepared to stop using the H Street plaza by April 22. The plaza, he said, has allowed the restaurant’s employees to keep working because the restaurant can only seat 15 people inside with 50 percent capacity.

“The extension gets us into the good weather time of the year, so hopefully we can accommodate our guests with the existing space we have,” Seymour said. “We try to do the best for our employees and the community.”

Jones presented council with four options to extend the plaza use during the April 12 meeting, in order of Jones’ most desirable to least desirable options (council chose the second option).

The first option was Jones’ recommendation to extend plaza use until June 30 and the second option, which council selected, allows plaza use until the city manager or city council rescind the emergency proclamation when “normal” conditions return. Jones said this did not have a clear date.

The third option would have extended plaza use until the city manager canceled the park special-use permit based on the conditions of society and the economy. The final option would have allowed plaza use until Whatcom County enters phase 4, which the state had yet to set perimeters for. Jones warned that he didn’t know if the state would have a Phase 4, in which case the city would need to take legal action to rescind the plaza use.

Council could have also taken no action and DHO would have taken down its tent and tables as directed before April 22, Jones said.

During the meeting, Jones clarified that the restaurant’s tent on the plaza is not related to extending the emergency order.

“There happens to be a tent on the plaza, but that is not the matter,” Jones said. “If they’re allowed to use the plaza, they’d be allowed to use a tent. If they’re not allowed to use the plaza, there wouldn’t be a tent. But it’s not about the tent, it’s about the use of the space.”

Councilmember Charlie Hawkins questioned when DHO planned to take down the tent, to which Jones replied, “You could amend the motion further and say it would be a requirement that any structures be removed on such date. It wouldn’t apply to the roped areas and tables but would apply to the tent.”

Council ultimately voted not to amend option two.

The city will allow temporary structures, such as the seating outside Paso del Norte, until the end of the proclamation of emergency, Jones said.

Jones first issued an emergency order on June 9, 2020 that allowed restaurants to use downtown plazas through a park special-use permit, which city council subsequently approved at the June 22 council meeting. The emergency order was set to expire in October but at their September 28 meeting, councilmembers approved a new resolution that allowed the emergency order to stay in effect until Phase 3 of the governor’s reopening plan.