Outdoor Dining Discussed at City Council Meeting

Streateries given one week extension

by Dennis Rahm

The City of Chelan has extended by one week the operation of three outdoor Streateries which will allow for their use into the first week of November. In making the decision at the Tuesday night City Council meeting, it was noted the extension will allow the outdoor dining spots to remain open for the planned Saturday Halloween event in downtown.

The Streateries are a pilot program initiated by the Historic Downtown Chelan Association to help with business during COVID restrictions which limit indoor dining usage. Layla’s, Marcela’s and Stormy Mountain Brewery were the three restaurants who requested to participate in the program which allowed each to utilize two parking stalls immediately in front of their business to house the dining platforms.

The future use of Streateries was discussed at length during the council meeting and 34 public comment letters were read into the record. Of those who wrote letters, 23 were in favor of continuing the program in some form while 11 expressed opposition.

After the reading of the letters city staff, council members and the Mayor engaged in conversation on the topic. The entirety of the Tuesday City Council meeting is posted below. The conversation on Streateries begins at 21:12 into the meeting.

After discussion, it was agreed that the Streatery program will be reviewed over the next several months to determine the possibility of future use. In a related matter, it was also decided that sidewalk eating areas with rails will be allowed to remain in place through the winter. These outdoor dining areas are normally removed on October 31.

In addition to more study by Council on the Streatery program, Mayor Bob Goedde also indicated the City will likely be seeking additional feedback from the community.