Georgetown City Council members gave initial approval for a Street Patio Pilot Program at a meeting Oct. 27.
The program creates a trial period for downtown restaurants and businesses to use public on-street parking spaces directly in front of their storefronts for business activity.
What's new
The original proposal included both street patios and sidewalk cafes. City officials chose to defer the use of public sidewalks for the program in order to collect additional feedback from business owners.
Council members may reevaluate sidewalk cafe provisions later in the pilot. If so, businesses must choose to pursue either a street patio or a sidewalk cafe.
The ordinance also specifies the maximum amount of parking spaces that can be used for business activity. The program will cap the number of parking spaces at three parking spaces per street patio, and two street patios per block.
Other changes include:
Costs for the program come out to $2,610 for one space, $5,010 for two spaces and $7,410 for three spaces.
Something to note
The pilot program will allow the city to enforce the following measures:
Street patios must be directly adjacent to the business
If parking spaces edge into nearby property, the business must receive property owners' consent
Street patio setups cannot block or obstruct public pedestrian sidewalks
While the program could make up to 134 on street parking spaces inaccessible, a planned 450-space public parking garage at Ninth and Main streets will offset the loss, officials said.
In case you missed it
Council members first requested a pilot program for downtown sidewalk cafes at a Nov. 25, 2025, meeting. At the meeting, officials noted that businesses in downtown Georgetown had already been unofficially using sidewalk space for business activity.
Council members considered the program most recently at a Sept. 8 City Council workshop.
