By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

If Tuesday night was any indication, local businesses will not have any problem filling outdoor dining areas. It is just up to the city to decide whether to allow those types of situations.

Bucyrus City Council held a public hearing to consider permitting outdoor seating in the Downtown Business District and roughly 40 people turned out for the event. The meeting started out with Zoning Administrator John Rostash setting the stage for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements and possible solutions for outdoor dining.

According to Rostash, the sidewalk corridor consists of three parts: a building frontage zone, a pedestrian travel zone, and a furniture and planting zone. The pedestrian travel zone is typically five to eight feet in width when combined with the building frontage zone, while the furniture and planting zone – which is the area closest to the road – is usually three to four feet in width. ADA does allow for a suggested minimum of 36 inches in the pedestrian travel zone if the street elevation is lower than the building elevation.

“When we renovated our downtown, we widened our streets by three feet on each side and that makes it more difficult in this outdoor seating,” Rostash explained. “We just don’t have as much to work with as these other communities.”

Despite Rostash’s concerns over space, he suggested a possible solution that would set aside four feet in the encroachment area for seating and outdoor sales, five feet for a walking path that would meet ADA requirements, and four feet in the furniture zone. He added that the Board of Zoning Appeals could make a determination on a case-by-case basis.

“Not everything in our Downtown Business District is the same. Different store fronts have different light poles, some have garbage receptacles. Some are just wider than others – our walking paths vary from five foot to 20 feet. It really needs to be looked at individually and not just as one whole downtown,” Rostash said.

Councilman Bill O’Rourke, who has been an opponent to outdoor seating when it comes to ADA requirements, argued that there would not be an adequate walkway in the downtown district if seating areas were set up. He pointed to Little Athens Greek Restaurant taking up the entire sidewalk with its patio seating and light posts shortening the available area near Norman’s Niche.

“I am for business 100 percent. I am for handicap people 150 percent,” O’Rourke said. “I don’t have a problem with patios, I have a problem with the area they go into.”

Law Director Rob Ratliff got into the nitty gritty details of ADA and how it could apply to the city and the businesses.

“The ADA sets forth basic requirements. They are not mandatory minimals (sic) nor are they legislated must-haves,” Ratliff said.

He noted that the government and ADA often take into consideration that some things are just old and non-compliant. Though ADA sets guidelines, it also sets standards that cities have to meet that are not black and white, but do allow for reasonable accommodations.

“We have these different zones and are any of them ADA compliant? Some of them are,” Ratliff admitted as he used Rostash’s diagram as an example. “Some of our sidewalks are very slope-y, some of them are bumpy and don’t quite comply with ADA . . . It goes to what is a reasonable accommodation.”

Fifteen people spoke in favor of outdoor seating. No one came out in opposition of it.

Jim Gillenwater, who was a bit poetic when talking about the downtown area, was part of the downtown revitalization committee in the 1970s. He understood what it took to meet standards, but also argued for creating a downtown that would bring people in.

“A beautifully landscaped lawn with no flowers . . . that’s Bucyrus,” said Gillenwater, who was a proponent of giving business owners the ability to maximum their trade. “The downtown merchants went through a lot of grief for probably 20 years – bad water lines, bad sewer lines, bad street, just bad, bad.

“Now we have one of the most attractive downtowns for any town this size in Ohio,” Gillenwater said. “I think it’s time that the council realize there’s opportunities for business people to use those sidewalks within the law . . . We have thousands of cars go through here all summer long. Not always just on the weekends – all summer long. They don’t stop because they don’t see any reason to stop. So I’d like to see our merchants give them a reason.”

Leslie Johnson, who owns commercial properties in town with her husband, argued that if the city was worried about being ADA compliant then there were a lot of other areas that needed to be brought up to code. She pointed to reservoirs that are not accessible to handicapped people and crumbling sidewalks.

“If you really are a proponent of ADA, please walk around Bucyrus and find the other things that need to be brought up to code,” Johnson said.

Natalie Norman, whose business Norman’s Niche has taken center stage in the outdoor seating debate, noted that she and her husband, Jeff, have been dealing with ADA requirements for decades with their daughter. They understand the requirements and have tried to abide by them.

“I just want you to know I feel we’re doing a good thing, not a bad thing. We do need people to stop in Bucyrus. The more money that’s spent in Bucyrus, the more tax dollars that come in, the more that their friends talk to their friends, and the more people have business downtown. That’s what we had going for a while.”

The outdoor seating matter was referred back to the Platting Committee for further study and will be discussed at the next meeting at 6 p.m. on Jan. 19.

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Bucyrus City Council met prior to the public hearing for a special meeting. The council passed three pieces of legislation pertaining to the billet, employee manpower, and supervisor manpower. The billet and employee manpower legislation passed unanimously while the supervisor manpower legislation passed 5-1 with O’Rourke being the lone vote against it.

According to Council President Sis Love, the previous legislation expired at the end of 2016. That legislation typically runs in conjunction with the AFSCME contracts, which have not been settled. Tuesday’s three pieces are only temporary to allow for the employees to be paid until the other contracts are completed.