NJ Issues Winter Guidance For Outdoor Restaurant Dining

TRENTON, NJ — Restaurants that want to extend their outdoor dining as temperatures get colder by using domes or tents to shelter diners have until Monday to file permit applications seeking approval, state officials announced.

New guidance issued Wednesday evening by the state Department of Community Affairs says restaurants that have tents, bubbles, igloos or other kinds of "dining domes" for outdoor dining that are more than 120 square feet are subject to the Uniform Construction Codes permit requirement.

The permit requirement is intended to address concerns about the ability of tents or other structures to handle the weight of snow or ice, and is applicable from Dec. 1 to March 30, according to information from the Department of Community Affairs.

Domes and tents that are less than 120 square feet do not need a permit, according to the guidelines.

"The dome should be able to be deconstructed on a daily basis, if needed, and should be secured, but not anchored, so that it can be readily lifted for emergency evacuation," the guidance said.

Portable heaters used in the domes or tents need approval from local fire officials, the guidance said.

"We recognize the restaurants in our state have been hit extraordinarily hard by the pandemic," Gov. Phil Murphy said. "We are doing everything we can to help these businesses stay afloat until we can return to more normalcy."

"The guidance is part of our effort to help ease the burden this pandemic has placed on eating establishments. We are leaving no stone unturned as we work to assist the restaurant community," Murphy said.

Towns are being urged to suspend permit fees for tents and similar structures for restaurants to ease the stress on the establishements as they work to survive, state officials said.

Restaurants will have to file snow plans with their local construction official that would take effect in the event of a forecasted weather event that would exceed the ability of the tent or dome to remain safe under the weight of the snow.

Establishments must file the UCC permit application and request for a variation, if applicable, by November 30, 2020. In order to provide sufficient time for the processing of permit and variation applications, municipalities may grant establishments a two-week extension from the November 30th deadline to remove the tent, provided that the establishment has filed a snow plan with the permit application that will be put into effect in the event of a forecasted weather event occurring within the time period of the extension.

"The Division of Fire Safety is constantly evaluating new products and alternative solutions to see if any are acceptable to meet the needs of outdoor dining," the Department of Community Affairs said. "It is the intent of the division to ensure that outdoor dining is done safely and in a code-compliant manner while at the same time working with business owners to meet their needs."

Click here to get Patch email notifications, or get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our app. Download here. Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com Follow Brick Patch on Facebook.