Monongahela OKs outdoor dining

By ERIC SEIVERLING

eseiverling@yourmvi.com

Regular visitors to downtown Monongahela will soon see a change in the city.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Monongahela council approved an amendment to its outdoor eating ordinance, permitting restaurants and taverns between First and Fifth streets to have customers dine outside.

The move comes as a response to restaurants and taverns seeing lost profits due to capacity limitations imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But there are requirements that must be met.

State and county health mandates concerning COVID-19 must be followed at all times, along with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, and the outdoor eating space must be  approved by the city’s code enforcement officer. Tables and chairs will also only be allowed outside until the end of October.

The idea to place tables on the city’s sidewalks came from the Monongahela Main Street Program, a nonprofit organization that sponsors activities and programs to boost the city’s economy and historic preservation. The group has also purchased tables and chairs to be placed outside the restaurants.

Monongahela Main Street Program Executive Director Terry Necciai said the tables were funded by a $10,000 EQT grant the program received in November 2019. It was originally earmarked for approximately 20 events such as neighborhood meetings, walking trail mile markers placed throughout the city, a street sale and hidden spaces tours.

Because of the pandemic, many of those events have been put on hold, freeing money to purchase approximately $1,000 in tables and chairs.

“We’re providing the tables and chairs and we’re going to ask (the restaurants) to become charter members of our organization,” Necciai said. “There’s more cooperation now than there has been in the past.”

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