North Hempstead, NY Special Events & Permits: Sidewalk Dining & Cafés (2026)

1, adopted in 2020 as a COVID-19 outdoor accommodation and renewed by the Town Board in subsequent years, lets restaurants and food service establishments expand seating by up to 50% of their previously approved indoor floor area without adding parking, but only after filing an application with the Building Commissioner and obtaining a permit. Subsection J specifically governs outdoor sidewalk seating: the applicant must leave a pedestrian access area measured from the inside of the curb of at least 60 inches, keeping tables, chairs, and menu signs out of that path, and must route around fixed obstacles like benches, garbage cans, accessibility ramps, and driveway aprons.

Employees may briefly enter the access area while serving but cannot leave equipment like tray stands there, and must yield to pedestrians at all times. Applicants need a $2,000,000 certificate of insurance naming the Town as an additional insured, and sidewalk service can extend to the frontage of up to two adjoining businesses with written landlord permission. m. m. Friday and Saturday, with tables and chairs cleared 30 minutes later. Smoking and vaping are barred in the seating area, and no sound amplification or live entertainment is allowed.

As written, permits issued under this section terminate December 31, 2024, a sunset date the Town Board has extended by local law each year since the program began.