Lower Merion, PA Special Events & Permits: Sidewalk Dining & Cafés (2026)

Section 90-6.1 of the Health Code, added in 1996 and amended in 2005, governs outdoor dining in three tiers. Subsection A lets a licensed eating and drinking place or food store add take-out consumption seating outside without table service, capped at 12 indoor seats and 20 total seats for a food store. Subsection B lets a full-service restaurant add table-side outdoor service on its own property, subject to Board of Health rules, a required hose bib or equivalent cleaning method, a ban on outdoor food preparation and buffets, and, where the seating abuts a residential district, a twenty-foot planted buffer and hours limited to 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Subsection C covers dining placed in the public right-of-way itself, the true sidewalk cafe: the establishment must sit on the first floor of a building in a commercial zoning district with frontage the full width of the dining area, and it needs a permit from the Building and Planning Department. Enhancements must stay at least two feet from the curb, five feet from fire hydrants and meter boxes, two feet from sewer cleanouts, and clear of 25-foot visibility triangles at intersecting sidewalks; furniture must be stored indoors outside business hours and removed within two days of a Township notice at the licensee's expense, backed by liability insurance naming the Township as an additional insured.

Cancellation of that insurance immediately voids the permit, and a license addendum under Subsection A can be withdrawn for repeat health code violations or uncollected trash.