Peoria, IL Special Events & Permits: Sidewalk Dining & Cafés (2026)

Chapter 26, Article VII, Division 4 defines a sidewalk café as a restaurant facility selling food, frozen desserts or beverages for immediate consumption both inside the building and on the adjacent public sidewalk, right-of-way or plaza immediately abutting that same establishment, which distinguishes it from a commercial parklet, a separate curbside-parking-space use defined in the same section. Section 26-287 requires an annual right-of-way permit before operating one, and Section 26-288's application must include a site plan showing the café will not unreasonably interfere with pedestrian flow, building entrance access, traffic safety, or the area's aesthetics, plus proof of a valid retail food establishment license for the adjacent business.

00 in property damage, naming the city as coinsured, lower coverage than a parklet needs under the same section. to midnight under Section 26-298(b). The operator must leave at least four feet of unobstructed public way for pedestrians, five feet preferred, and if alcohol is served the café needs a physical boundary separating the seating from the rest of the public way, with the entrance as the only open point. Section 26-298(h) requires planter boxes covering at least half of that boundary's top, plus one 24-inch shrub or equivalent for every 100 square feet beyond a standard 300-square-foot café, with plant height including the planter capped at 42 inches.

A café operator who fails to operate for 30 consecutive days, outside the seasonal closure, is treated as having abandoned the use, and the permit is automatically revoked under Section 26-297(d).