Livonia, MI Special Events & Permits: Sidewalk Dining & Cafés (2026)

Section 6.51(1) of the Zoning Ordinance treats outdoor dining as an add-on to a limited service or carry-out restaurant use rather than a separate permit category. Subsection (D) caps seating at six persons for a carry-out restaurant and twelve persons for a Limited Service Restaurant, and that seating is only lawful when the underlying restaurant already holds a valid waiver use approval from the City. A restaurant cannot add tables to a sidewalk without first amending its approved site plan: the seating arrangement and capacity have to be illustrated on a plan reviewed by both the Planning Department and the Inspection Department.

The section also restricts where the tables can physically sit. Outdoor dining is confined to sidewalk or patio areas adjoining the building, and it must leave sufficient clear space for pedestrian and handicapped circulation, with safe, direct access maintained to and from the building itself, so a restaurant cannot block a public sidewalk with tables even if seating counts stay under the cap. Where outdoor dining sits near a drive aisle, the City can require decorative fencing or bollards to demarcate and protect the seating area if it decides public safety calls for it. Trash receptacles have to be provided for the outdoor area and emptied regularly, and outdoor speaker volume has to stay low enough that it does not become objectionable to neighbors, a standard the Inspection Department enforces on complaint.