West Des Moines, IA Special Events & Permits: Outdoor Heater Rules (2026)

City Code section 7-1-1(C)(5)(n) treats an outdoor heater as one more sidewalk cafe element that has to go through the same approval as the cafe itself: it is allowed only if the City signs off on it as part of the sidewalk encroachment permit application, and only if it complies with the Fire Code the City has adopted. There is no stand-alone heater permit separate from the cafe permit process described in the rest of subsection (C)(5); a proprietor who wants a patio heater has to include it when applying to the City Clerk's Office for the sidewalk cafe's annual sidewalk encroachment permit and the accompanying proof of insurance and hold harmless and indemnification agreement that section 7-1-1(C) requires of every Valley Junction Historic Business District sidewalk encroachment.

Because the heater sits inside the cafe's boundary, it is also subject to the cafe's other physical limits: the barrier separating the cafe from the rest of the sidewalk, the five-foot minimum pedestrian clearance, and the requirement that all cafe elements, heaters included, either be removed from the right-of-way or stacked and secured against the building within thirty minutes of closing each night. The cafe's seasonal window, April 1 through November 15, and its daily operating hours also bound when an approved heater can be running outdoors, since the heater is only lawful for as long as the sidewalk cafe itself is lawfully in operation.