The Durango City Council heard from sometimes desperate restaurateurs dealing with lost business as Level Red restrictions banning in-person dining move beyond their first month in La Plata County.
“Time is critical. We can’t last another month,” Switchback taco bar owner Dan Gearig said in a business relief forum held by the council on Zoom.
Bump-outs allowed during warm weather months were especially helpful to restaurants, and Gearig urged city councilors to move quickly to bring them back as soon as weather allows.
Again, Gearig emphasized the importance of time – telling councilors they should establish a timeline to bring back the bump-outs now and not wait until spring to work out the details and timing.
“We don’t have time. We have to make it happen now,” he said.
Tim Walsworth, executive director of the Business Improvement District, said a survey of businesses showed overwhelming support for the bump-outs, but other ideas suggested by Gearig, like closing sections of Main Avenue to vehicles to create a festival-like atmosphere split the business community – restaurants generally favoring vehicle closures but retailers largely opposed.
“Restaurants love the idea (of closing sections of Main Avenue to vehicles). It gets rid of a safety concern. But retail businesses really prefer bump-outs. They don’t eliminate as much parking,” he said.
While adding outdoor space is helpful, Walsworth said in winter it will work only if indoor business space also can be added.
“There is no silver bullet. If we can get some indoor capacity, then that is really going to help with more outdoor capacity,” he said.
Lynn Kitch with Home Slice Pizza said she was grateful for grants from the city and other governmental assistance offered through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, but she said nothing can replace allowing businesses to return to full operation.
“I have $10,000 in rent for three buildings. I received a $3,100 grant from the city, thank you very much, but it’s not going to cover but a third of my rent,” she said.
The city is examining waiving three months of water, sewage and trash bills for small businesses; Kitch suggested a four-month waiver.
She also suggested waiving four months of sales taxes, reducing or waiving liquor license costs and waiving business licensing costs.
City Manager José Madrigal listed aid programs the city has adopted in addition to bump-outs to aid businesses, such as reserving downtown parking spaces for businesses, allowing parking lots for use by businesses and allowing food trucks in rights of way.
He also noted the city will disburse a total of $820,000 in grants funded through the CARES Act on Friday to small businesses. The grants will be issued in three tiers, depending on how severely a business has been hit by restrictions.
The most severely affected businesses will receive grants of $5,700, a middle group of businesses will receive grants of $3,150 and the final group, the least impacted businesses, will receive grants of $1,100.
In his role as chairman of the board of directors of the Colorado Association of Ski Towns, Mayor Dean Brookie has written a letter to Gov. Jared Polis asking that restaurants compliant with local health restrictions in resort towns be allowed to open for indoor seating at 25% capacity between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Dave Woodruff, general manager of El Moro and president of the Durango chapter of the Colorado Restaurant Association, asked La Plata County commissioners to support Brookie’s letter.
“As restaurants, we’re not looking for a loophole or an easy way out,” he said. “We want to do what’s best for the community and business, and I think we can find a balance to find something that works for both.”
Some people called for more radical action.
Kate Hollock, who said she represented a new local business alliance, called for City Council to declare Durango a sanctuary city free of state of Colorado restrictions to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus – similar to a measure adopted by Atwater, California.
“The state is putting regulations on businesses that are unreasonable and unconstitutional,” she said – adding that declaring Durango a sanctuary city would be a legally defensible position in court.
“This is a constitutional issue, and if we submit to it now, we’ll have greater troubles down the line,” she said.
Hollock’s position received little support.
Woodruff said the best way to approach loosening business restrictions is in smaller steps that show a community can handle gradually easing business restrictions, and only then seeking more comprehensive exemptions to restrictions.
“The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time,” he said.
Brookie cautioned that moving in the confrontational way suggested by Hollock would only endanger the city’s future receipt of federal government COVID-19 assistance.
Federal assistance that works its way down through the state, county and local levels is all predicated on the city abiding by public health orders, he said
“I’d be reticent to declare us too much of a maverick, because quite frankly we need the support from the federal, state and county governments. We can’t expect to get that support if we went rogue,” he said.
parmijo@durangoherald.com
