[Amended 4-25-2006 by Ord. No. 11-06]
Sidewalk cafes and restaurants may be established
in any commercial zone. However, no such use shall be permitted on
any property immediately adjacent to a residential use unless the
cafe/restaurant was established prior to the residential use. No person
shall establish, maintain, own or operate a sidewalk cafe/restaurant
nor serve food, liquor or other beverages on any public street, sidewalk,
boardwalk, promenade or alleyway without first having obtained a license
from the Clerk of the City of Long Branch. It shall be a prerequisite
to the issuance of any license under this section that the applicant
have a valid mercantile license for restaurant/food services in the
City of Long Branch.
An application for a sidewalk cafe license shall
be available on a form to be issued by the Clerk of the City. Once
a completed application is received by the Clerk with the appropriate
fee, it shall be forwarded to the Director of Public Safety, who shall
conduct an investigation into the data contained in the application.
A. The Director shall review the application to assess
issues of public safety, including but not limited to pedestrian access
and movement, access and movement of emergency personnel, effect on
motor vehicle traffic flows, impact on fire zones, impact on local
residents, if any, appropriateness of design, the business record
of the applicant, any proposed structures to be erected on the public
sidewalks and public safety, health and welfare considerations. The
application shall include a drawing submitted by the applicant depicting
the area to be utilized, the layout proposed and dimensions thereof,
as well as proximity to the curb, street and neighboring properties.
The Director shall also obtain a report from the City Health Department
as to whether appropriate food storage, sanitary conditions, adequate
restroom facilities and waste disposal procedures are available and
in place prior to issuance of a license. The Public Safety Director
shall issue or deny the license as in his or her unlimited discretion
as he or she deems appropriate. If the applicant is in possession
of a license to sell alcoholic beverages on the premises, as part
of this application the applicant must submit to the City Council
an amended plan for the retail consumption of alcoholic beverages
on a sidewalk and seek the appropriate extension of the license to
cover the sidewalk area if alcoholic beverages are to be served in
that area. If the applicant holds a retail alcohol license or if the
applicant wishes to allow patrons to bring their own alcohol for consumption
within the cafe premises, the applicant must submit a plan to put
in a barrier, i.e. planters, fencing or the like, acceptable to the
Public Safety Director in his sole discretion, to separate and segregate
the area in which the alcoholic beverages are to be sold and/or consumed
from areas traversed by the general public. The Director shall make
his or her findings and recommendations, if any, within 30 days of
the Director's receipt of the application.
B. An applicant who is denied a license by the Director
may appeal the decision of the Director to the Mayor and Council of
the City of Long Branch. Said appeal must be received in writing by
the Clerk of the City of Long Branch within seven days of the denial
of the application by the Director of Public Safety. The Mayor and
Council may then consider the appeal, taking into consideration the
findings of the Director, the issues taken into consideration by the
Director and any other relevant information. The Mayor and Council
may affirm or overrule the Director's decision in their unlimited
discretion as they deem appropriate.
C. Both the Director of Public Safety or the Mayor and
Council of the City of Long Branch, whichever may grant an application
for such a license, may impose any restrictions or conditions deemed
necessary in the sole discretion of the Director or the Mayor and
Council should an appeal come before them.
D. No license shall be issued until an approval by the
Director of Public Safety is received by the Clerk of the City of
Long Branch or a resolution of the Mayor and Council overruling the
Public Safety Director in granting the issuance of a license shall
have been adopted by a majority vote of the Mayor and Council of the
City of Long Branch.
Any persons submitting an application for a sidewalk cafe or restaurant shall submit an application fee in the amount of $50 with said application. Should an application be approved by the Director of Public Safety or the Mayor and Council of the City by resolution, as specified in §
181-16D of this article, the applicant shall pay an annual licensing fee in the amount of $25 for one to four tables; $50 for five to eight tables; and $100 for more than eight tables utilized for said sidewalk cafe restaurants.
Any and all licenses issued pursuant to the
terms of this article shall permit sidewalk cafe operations to begin
no earlier than April 1. Any and all sidewalk cafe operations so established
shall terminate no later than November 1 of the year in which the
permit is issued.
Any license for a sidewalk cafe issued pursuant
to the terms of this article shall be renewed annually in the discretion
of the Director of Public Safety or, on appeal, the Mayor and Council
of the City of Long Branch.
Any person violating any provisions of this
article shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the
county jail for a term not exceeding six months or by a fine not exceeding
$500, or both in the discretion of the court.
The terms of Chapter
1, General Provisions, are fully applicable to this article.