Council votes to convert parking spaces into patio area

Spillar also explained the standard fees for similar licensure agreements, which would total about $8,800, would be waived as Royal Blue Grocery has agreed to pay for the cost of patio construction.

Councilwoman Kathie Tovo inquired about the reasoning for waiver of the standard fees. Spillar said that while the sidewalks have been leased for patio space, parking spots have never been used for this purpose, making the pilot of value to the city.

Furthermore, he said the fee was set low enough so that a business owner would want to give this a try at the risk of having to take out the deck a year from now if pilot is deemed unsuccessful.

Councilman Chris Riley, the initiative's sponsor, said Royal Blue's owners quoted the construction costs of building a curb-level deck with accompanying landscaping to be about $20,000. Riley also said the owners estimated that about 90 percent of their business is walkup.

Meanwhile, business owners on the same block expressed concern about the loss of those parking spaces, including Bill Koen of Joe Koen & Son Jewelers, located next door to Royal Blue.

Koen said his business has been at that location for 40 years, and as a key stakeholder, he was not consulted by anyone from the city about the pilot program.

"Parking and lack thereof has been the single biggest issue to maintaining a viable business downtown since the 1980s," Koen said. "Although it will be a benefit to Royal Blue Grocery, it will be a determent to my business and the rest of the businesses on the block."

Koen added, "For all of the Austinites that have it in their mind that downtown parking is already horrible, this will only keep them further away."

In response to the concerns of neighboring businesses, Mayor Lee Leffingwell said the city will focus on the issue of parking throughout the course of the pilot program.

Council passed a second item allowing for a long-term program for other businesses should this one-year program prove successful.