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BACKGROUND Temporary Pop-Ups during COVID-19 During the COVID-19 pandemic, significant restrictions were placed on indoor dining and retail operations. To provide some flexibility and relief to local businesses, the City allowed businesses to temporarily expand outdoors into locations where outdoor use by businesses is typically not permitted. These outdoor expansions are called "pop-ups". The City's temporary pop-ups allowed for seating areas, furnishings, and coverings (e.g., tents and canopies) to be installed within outdoor locations, including the public right-of-way in on-street parking spaces and sidewalk areas, as well as in private parking lots. The City provided minimal guidelines (e.g., areas demarcated for emergency vehicle access shall be kept clear and pop-ups must be at least five feet away from driveways). However, to help limit costs and barriers for businesses, the City did not require specific designs, furniture, built platforms, or amenities. Twenty different businesses received approval for pop-ups in the City right-of-way within the downtown. Approximately fifty additional pop-up approvals were issued for pop-ups on private property, both within and outside downtown. Each individual pop-up typically occupies from zero to three parking spaces (i.e., some are located on the sidewalk) and incorporates varying levels of design and amenities. Approval of pop-ups has been granted on a temporary basis, with the approvals valid while indoor dining is prohibited with potential extension by the City as it sees fit. City staff has advised pop-up operators that pop-ups will be allowed through Labor Day weekend (September 6, 2021) — coinciding with the end of the Weekend on Main Street closures — and will have to be removed thereafter. Generally, the City has received positive feedback about the vibrancy the pop-ups have added downtown. The program has provided welcome relief and an opportunity for businesses to maintain a healthier volume of customers than would have otherwise been allowed. The pop-ups have been consistently occupied during lunch and dinner periods, and even with the ending of COVID restrictions in mid-June have proven a popular option for restaurant patrons. Nonetheless, and despite their popularity, the City has also received some criticism of the program. This predominately includes impacts to parking and undesirable aesthetics of some of the pop-ups, particularly now that COVID restrictions have been lifted and downtown activity is starting to return to pre-pandemic conditions. Downtown Parklets Parklets are typically small public open spaces built in the public right-of-way. They tend to occupy one or two on-street parking spaces and be built on platforms flush to the sidewalk. They are often created where narrow or congested sidewalks prevent the installation of traditional sidewalk dining or seating areas and where there is a desire to expand the available public space on a street. They provide a space for the public to eat, interact, and/or relax, and are typically a cost-effective means of increasing open space in busy commercial areas, can encourage traffic calming, and enhance the Page 2of6