KC leaders green light plan for outdoor dining, extend alcohol sales to-go

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    KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — Kansas City’s city council members overwhelmingly approved a package of ordinances that will allow restaurants to offer expanded outdoor seating on sidewalks and parking lots.

It’s welcome news to the many eateries in KC’s Westport entertainment district.

“Well hopefully with the increased traffic we’ll be able to see the numbers that we saw in February before all this happened,” said Dennis Alazzeh at Chick-in Waffle.

“We’ve always been known for our patios here in Westport, so I’m looking forward to having a big patio outside,” Alazzeh said.

The city approved expanded outdoor seating and alcohol sales to-go until the end of the year.

Restaurants will still need to obtain a permit from the city, for outdoor seating, but the permit will be free.

“I didn’t realize how much I would miss it until I didn’t have the option of going out,” said Claire Petersen, after eating at Char Bar.

In the city’s Power and Light District, starting Friday they’ll close down 14th Street from Main to Walnut and Walnut to Grand to car traffic so restaurants can offer outdoor dining.

City leaders and restaurant owners are hoping the newly approved measures will be enough to jump-start a comeback for the struggling industry.

But already, it appears many diners are eager to return to some kind of normalcy.

“We will be spending a lot of time on the patios down here in Westport,” Claire Petersen said. “We are very excited to go back out and support the community in general.”

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