Redwood City, CA Special Events & Permits: Sidewalk Dining & Cafés (2026)

Section 31.15 of the Zoning Code governs outdoor dining and other accessory outdoor commercial uses, defined as retail, restaurant, or personal-service activity that happens outside an enclosed structure but is incidental to an enclosed primary use on the same site. The rule reaches every permitted and conditionally permitted use in Redwood City's commercial and mixed-use zoning districts on private property; industrial and residential districts are handled use-by-use in their own articles, and food trucks are carved out entirely and not regulated by this Section. Outdoor dining is not open to any pop-up or outside operator: Section 31.15.D.2 restricts it to restaurants that are already current tenants of the shopping center or commercial building.

Hours of outdoor service cannot exceed the restaurant's normal hours of operation (D.1). A restaurant can place tables on sidewalks or patio areas, or spill into the parking lot, but a parking-lot placement is capped at 30 percent of the property's total non-accessible spaces, must stay contiguous to the commercial structure or an adjacent walkway, and, if a landlord designates a consolidated outdoor dining area elsewhere, that spot still has to satisfy all State and County requirements (D.3). Seating in a parking area also needs a safety barrier, such as a fence, water-filled K-rail, or landscape planter.

The dining area must keep a six-foot accessible path of travel along the building frontage and a six-foot clearance around every doorway, plus an unobstructed six-foot emergency egress path at least every 50 feet (D.4), and it can never block a fire hydrant, sprinkler connection, building entrance, or fire lane (D.5). Furniture, umbrellas, and heaters must stay portable rather than permanently installed, portable heaters must come inside when the business closes, and any canopy or tent needs separate Fire Department approval (D.6). The operator needs the property owner's written authorization to use private sidewalks or parking areas (D.7) and must keep the outdoor area clean (D.8). Outdoor dining that spills onto public sidewalks instead of private property needs a separate City encroachment permit rather than approval under this Section.