Concord, NC Special Events & Permits: Sidewalk Dining & Cafés (2026)

City Code § 50-50 lets the city manager, or a designee, enter encroachment agreements for sidewalk dining or outdoor merchandise display on seven fixed conditions: dining is for the restaurant's own customers only; any merchandise display must be accessory to the retailer's lawfully established business and limited to what that retailer sells on-site; furnishings and display fixtures cannot be bolted to the ground or fastened to streetlights, trees or other street furniture, or installed within the right-of-way itself; merchandise must come inside during non-business hours unless it's on private property; no cover charge may be collected for sidewalk dining; furnishings cannot display another business's branding; and the sidewalk must stay clear of litter, food and debris.

The written agreement required under § 50-52 must include the operator's contact information, the food or merchandise to be sold, proposed hours, a scaled site plan showing dimensions and the pedestrian clearance zone, insurance evidence, an indemnity clause, copies of health and ABC permits, and a processing fee set by the city. Section 50-53(3) sets the walkway standard: at least four feet of unobstructed pedestrian path must remain where a center-city sidewalk is ten feet wide or less, and at least five feet where it's wider, with the five-foot minimum applying in every other zoning district.

Furnishings must come off the sidewalk daily at closing unless secured against vandalism, per § 50-53(5). Restaurants serving alcohol within their encroachment area, outside the Downtown Social District, must also install a physical barrier such as stanchions or planters, per the § 50-51 definitions.