City of Wheeling Considers Using COVID-19 Aid To Incentivize Outdoor Dining Options
WHEELING — City officials are looking to use a portion of the city’s pandemic relief funding to create a new program that will allow Wheeling restaurants to create or enhance outdoor dining options.
Last year during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city took action that allowed local restaurants to apply for a temporary right-of-way permit to create outdoor dining. The measure was offered last spring as commerce began to reopen after a nearly two-month shutdown, with extra precautions and state-mandated guidelines about social distancing.
Before restaurants were able to move to full capacity or even limited indoor seating in the spring of 2020, outdoor dining options ushered in the initial phase of a slow return to normalcy in terms of dining out. Since then, outdoor dining and additional, spaced seating arrangements have become a pandemic-born trend that many predict will continue even after health concerns over public gatherings subside.
As COVID cases remain high on the tail of the latest wave, city leaders in Wheeling are looking to provide financial incentives to private business owners willing to invest in outdoor dining.
Wheeling Vice Mayor Chad Thalman noted that a proposal was born out of a proposal following discussions with Wheeling Community Development Director Nancy Prager earlier this year. Officials have discussed the possibility of developing a new program modeled after the city’s successful Facade Improvement Program, offering a percentage of money toward an investment of outdoor dining improvements as opposed to building facade improvements.
The city of Wheeling has received a substantial amount of pandemic relief funds through the American Rescue Plan. Around $14.1 million in ARP funds has been received by the city so far, with another similar allocation expected early next year for a total of around $29.5 million.
City officials are expected to soon hold work sessions to discuss the distribution of these funds, particularly for big-ticket items that will have the maximum impact for community relief related to the pandemic. There are strict rules regarding the use of the American Rescue Plan funds, officials noted.
“Using the facade as a template is what we talked about from a staff perspective,” Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said of the proposed outdoor dining program, using pandemic-relief funding. “Looking over the guidelines, it is an eligible expense for COVID relief, for Rescue Plan funds.”
City leaders recently discussed the proposal during a meeting of the Development Committee of Council, and while no solid plan has been put in place yet, all who have spoken about the proposal seem to support it.
“We’re sitting on a lot of money from the Rescue Plan, and we’re going to see even more next year,” Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott said. “I know we’ll be having a process to consider where some of the bigger chunks of that money is going to go. I know a lot of people have already asked about it and made suggestions, and we’re going to have a lot of decisions ahead of us.
“This to me seems like low-hanging fruit. We saw during the pandemic a need for a lot of restaurants to move toward outdoor seating, especially those who didn’t have it already. I think a lot of those restaurants still have it and utilize it, and I think it’s been a boon to our community.”
Barring any major objections, city leaders are expected to move forward with a plan to offer an outdoor dining program using ARP funds to incentivize private investment in creating, expanding or enhancing outdoor seating options for restaurants in the city.
“We shouldn’t wait until we have that further discussion about all of the other Rescue Plan ideas. This is something that I think would almost be accepted and welcomed unanimously in our community,” Elliott said.
The Development Committee forwarded a recommendation to the full Wheeling City Council to consider the measure. A resolution was scheduled to be introduced this week to direct the city staff to create a plan to offer a program, based on the Facade Improvement Program’s model. The facade program provides up to $15,000 in matching funds from the city to building owners who invest in eligible properties.