Economic Growth & Cultural Vitality: City waives outdoor dining fees for February to aid local businesses
February 5, 2025 2:55 PM
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Feb. 5, 2025) – To help mitigate the impacts of the recent wildfires on local businesses, the city of Santa Monica waived its license fees for outdoor dining areas, sidewalk dining, parklets and pier deck extended dining for the month of February in a supplement to its Emergency Order in response to the Palisades Fire.
“The city is committed to supporting our local businesses, and as a small business owner, I understand firsthand how a disaster can reverberate across a business community,” Mayor Lana Negrete said. “Waiving outdoor dining fees this month can provide much needed relief as we recover, and I encourage everyone to support our local restaurants, shops, hotels and businesses and enjoy everything our beautiful city has to offer.”
Currently, 101 businesses are enrolled in the city’s outdoor dining programs, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic as a pilot program and became permanent in Oct. 2022. Businesses can apply for the Sidewalk Dining or Outdoor Parklet programs. For more information on the city’s outdoor dining programs, click here.
“As a city, it’s important that we are responsive to our business community, and we heard from many of our restaurants about their severe loss of customers and overall sales due to the impacts of the fires,” Economic Development Manager Jennifer Taylor said. “We hope that by waiving the fees for a month, they’ll be able to get back on their feet and continue to benefit from these outdoor programs, which we know our community loves and enjoys.”
The city’s emergency proclamation in response to the wind and firestorm remains in place to ensure the continued support of regional wildfire recovery. The Emergency Order was updated on Jan. 31 to provide additional flexibility to schools and businesses that were impacted or displaced by wildfires and to refine criteria for housing support for fire victims.
Read the full Emergency Order. Read the first supplement to the Emergency Order.
For information and resources for businesses affected by the regional fires, click here.
Media Contact
Tati Simonian
Public Information Officer
Tati.Simonian@santamonica.gov
Categories
Business, Business Programs, Services