The City of Ripon and the Ripon Chamber of Commerce recently sought input from downtown businesses on outdoor dining.

Based on the preliminary numbers for the on-street / sidewalk dining survey, most supported the al fresco option used by local restaurants. The ordinance banning such dining was waived during the COVID-19 pandemic to help out local businesses.

Planning Director Ken Zuidervaart indicated at the July 13 City Council meeting that 26 responded to the electronic survey.

Of that, 73 percent favored the installation of semi-permanent decks along the downtown street parking stalls while 88 percent enjoyed having the sidewalk dining experience given there’s enough room for pedestrians to pass, he noted.

One added plus for the parking situation was the Downtown Circulation and Street Improvement Master Plan that received the OK from elected leader earlier at the same meeting.

Zuidervaart said that downtown, with modifications, could see an increase of about 13 on-street parking spaces.

“Overall, the responses favored outdoor dining but some of the responses contradicted each other with respect to what type of business they were and what questions they were supposed to answer,” he added.

Included is not losing parking, based on discussions of the just-approved Downtown Circulation plan.

“Yet the surveys show the respondents are in favor of keeping the outdooring dining while effectively losing parking spaces,” said Zuidervaart.

An update on the survey – businesses still had a few days to respond during the time of the monthly session – will be brought back at the August meeting.