The Dallas City Council decided more than a year ago that this was absurd and completely at odds with its presumed goal of improving quality of life in the city.
David Cossum, the city’s chief planner, went back to the drawing board and came up with what he must have thought was a fair, sensible revision that would encourage street life while not cutting too much into the city’s right-of-way revenue.
Under his proposal, presented today to the City Council’s Economic Development Committee, there would be a two-year pilot program during which businesses would be charged one-time “streetscape license fee” of $250 for sidewalk cafes, awnings, sidewalk retail, and the like. Sidewalk cafes would be charged an additional annual fee of between $300 and $1,000 depending on the number of tables and chairs. These would have to comply with to-be-determined “sidewalk cafe standards.”