Bloomington, IN Special Events & Permits: Sidewalk Dining & Cafés (2026)

06, Sidewalk Seating and Merchandising Encroachments, requires a permit before any business places outdoor seating or merchandise on a public sidewalk. 040 states: 'No business may encroach onto the public right-of-way for purposes of seating or merchandising without a permit granted through the provisions of this chapter,' and doing so without one is itself a violation subject to remedies and penalties. Applications go to the engineering department on a prescribed form, filed no sooner than ninety days before an existing permit expires and at least sixty days before the applicant wants the encroachment to begin; staff-approved applications still go to the board of public works for final sign-off.

Outdoor seating permits are open to businesses that sell retail food as a primary or secondary part of their operation, or that want seating for customer or public convenience, provided the business sits immediately adjacent to the requested sidewalk space. 030 sets the physical standard behind every permit: a clear straight pathway at least fifty-four inches wide must be kept open along the block (forty inches on one named stretch of West Kirkwood Avenue), and any solid fencing around the seating cannot exceed thirty-six inches in height.

090 sets the application and renewal fee at one hundred dollars, dropping to fifty dollars for a renewal limited to the March 1 through third-Monday-in-November season; encroachments of four days or less in a calendar year pay no fee. Permits run one year, are personal to the permittee and cannot be transferred if the business changes hands.