Palm Desert extends outdoor dining decks with eye on permanent program

The Palm Desert City Council voted 4-1 Thursday to extend the city’s temporary outdoor dining deck program through June 30, 2027, keeping alive outdoor restaurant spaces that first appeared during the COVID-19 pandemic while directing staff to develop a permanent replacement.

Thursday’s vote extends a program the city established in 2020 to allow restaurants to build and operate dining decks within public rights-of-way during the pandemic.

Of the three restaurants most recently participating, Piero’s PizzaVino on El Paseo has already voluntarily removed its deck. Kitchen 86, also on El Paseo, is fully compliant and expected to continue. Only Little Bar, on Highway 111, remains in a compliance dispute.

Little Bar owner Skip Paige addressed the council, saying even though he has obtained the correct insurance and dutifully paid all the city fees each year since he built the deck in 2021, the city said he has to take down his deck because the barriers he uses are no longer in compliance under new rules.

“I feel like I’m just being treated unfairly,” Paige said. “People like what I have. I operate. I’m a good operator. I keep it clean. It’s well maintained. I pay my fees, but I’m not getting a fair shake. And I want the deck.”

City staff said the primary compliance barrier is a formal letter from Little Bar’s property owner not just acknowledging the deck’s existence, but expressly approving it and assuming responsibility for it.

Paige brought a letter to the meeting, but as the city clerk read it aloud, it fell short of what the city requires: the letter stated it was “provided solely to acknowledge awareness of the existing condition and does not constitute authorization, license approval, or assumption of responsibility for the dining deck or its operation.”

Paige has until June 30 to submit an adequate letter and use approved barriers. If he does not, the city will require removal of the deck by July 1.

Councilmember Karina Moreno — who cast the lone dissenting vote — said she read every message submitted ahead of the meeting, tallying 45 in favor of keeping the decks and four opposed. Still, she declined to vote for the measure, arguing that the city’s liability obligations cannot give way to public affection for a business, and that the cycle of short-term renewals has itself become a problem.

“I’m not in support of having staff spend any more time on what we don’t know is in the future,” Moreno said. “Right now, we’re looking at two operators, one that’s not compliant, and I think it’s just time to end it.”

Mayor Pro Tem Joe Pradetto, a member of the ad hoc subcommittee that recommended the extension, said the one-year extension is intended to break precisely the cycle Moreno described. “We don’t want to keep putting our operators through this cycle of uncertainty,” he said.

The council also directed staff to study a concept called a pedestal paver system — an elevated sidewalk extension using adjustable supports and panels installed above the existing roadway — as a potential permanent framework for outdoor dining on El Paseo.

No approval for that was sought Thursday. Staff said a full program recommendation, covering design standards, accessibility, drainage, maintenance, insurance, and lease rates, would return to the council in roughly nine to 12 months.