HANOVER — A South Main Street business owner created a petition late last year fueled by concerns over the town continuing its COVID-19 era ordinance that lets restaurants take over parking spaces for outdoor seating, but it has not garnered enough support in town.
While Ryan Romano, who owns Hanover Haircutters, stopped advertising his petition, he still considers the current system unfair.
“It’s nice to be able to sit outside, but not at the public’s expense and the other businesses in town when there’s only two businesses that are benefiting from it,” Romano said.
Outdoor seating remains generally popular in Hanover despite the loss of parking availability. The willingness to trade a convenience for an amenity, and the sluggish response to Romano’s petition, suggests outdoor seating might be a settled feature of Hanover’s downtown.
From May 1 through Oct. 31, restaurants along South Main Street may designate up to four parking spaces for outdoor seating by paying a fee to the town. A total of 16 are available each summer.
This season, Lou’s Restaurant and Bakery and The Works Cafe took advantage of the option, as they have for the past few years.
Customers generally love to sit outside, but it depends on the day, as heat can bring people inside, said Lacey Colburn, a manager at Lou’s. With only 16 tables inside the restaurant, nine additional tables outside is a major expansion.
“Our business almost doubles,” Colburn said Wednesday outside Lou’s. “…On weekends, we’re full both inside and outside, with a line.”
Colburn feels that people don’t utilize the town parking garage between Lebanon and South streets, and that the town should “make it more seen.”
The additional business covers the rental fees — $250 per spot and an additional $250 per table, according to the 2022 ordinance — and appeals to customers, she said.
“We don’t really have anybody that I’ve experienced being grumpy about us taking up space. They more just come and enjoy it because we’re such a Hanover staple,” Colburn said.
One Hanover couple at Lou’s Wednesday morning, Rachell Hess and Austin Hogue, expressed a preference for outdoor seating, but could see it both ways.
“I would not want to reduce outdoor seating to accommodate parking,” Hess said.
But space could be better used, especially the lots behind South Main Street businesses, to accommodate more outdoor seating and parking, Hess said.
“In Lebanon, it’s not a problem,” Hogue said of parking availability.
Romano started his petition last fall to do away with the outdoor seating, as the loss of spaces made it more difficult for customers to visit his barber shop and other businesses in the area.
Romano opted not to push it further, as he felt supporters of the idea were too apprehensive to sign their names, he said Monday when reached by phone at the shop. However, the petition remains open online.
“I don’t think it’s worth it because they’re not going to change it no matter what,” Romano said.
Even one person complaining about not finding parking indicates that there are spots that should have stayed available to the public, Romano said.
“Nobody ever sits in The Works spots, but people lose those spots every day in the season,” he said.
People often do take advantage of the seating, even filling up all 10 tables at times, Kiki Lawrence, shift lead at The Works, said in an interview. But during Dartmouth graduation or when college students come back from summer break, there are some complaints.
“Parking can be hard to find here. Sometimes they have to go a quarter-mile out to find a parking spot,” Lawrence said.
Dartmouth post-doctoral researcher Stoyan Dimitrov didn’t have trouble finding a parking space on Wednesday, he said, but it’s a different story during the school year when more students are around. He still supports the option to sit outside.
“It’s always nice to have more space for people,” Dimitrov said.
For Woodstock resident Katherine Copeland, who works at the Hood Museum of Art, parking is a challenge no matter where you are, but outdoor seating is an inviting addition to the street that favors people over cars, she said.
“It gives businesses an ability to also expand their operations a little bit more,” said Copeland.
Lebanon has a similar program that converts parking spaces to outdoor seating from May through October, particularly for Salt hill Pub, which sits next to Colburn Park.
There, parking is seemingly less scarce.
Salt hill Pub uses its patio every day in the summer months, manager Jennifer Galvin said Tuesday at the restaurant. They take over nine, one-hour public spots.
Some customers seek out a patio dining experience over a specific restaurant, she added.
“It brings people into town,” Galvin said. “We get customers that didn’t know about us before they noticed the patio.”
One challenge of the patio is serving double the usual number of customers all at once, said Galvin. While some people complain about parking, it’s often because they don’t realize there are more options aside from around Colburn Park.
“There’s so much parking in Lebanon that is so underutilized,” Galvin said of the municipal lots surrounding the restaurant.
Partners Hanna Hurtubise and Hannah Gleason sat outside together at Salt hill Tuesday afternoon, though they typically venture to Hanover more often. Still, Hurtubise noted that parking is much better in Lebanon.
“There needs to be an additional parking solution in Hanover,” said Hurtubise, who lives in South Royalton.
The two still feel that outdoor seating is worth the loss of parking, as the environment can be more accommodating.
“It’s quieter,” said Gleason. “Inside, there’s a lot of people, it can get very loud and overstimulating.”
