With a small taste of spring weather this week, it seemed fitting that at the Thursday Board of Selectmen meeting there was a discussion about outdoor dining in 2026.
Town Administrator and Chief Operating Officer Kate Buch proposed dates and fees to restaurants.
File photo of outdoor dining node on Greenwich Avenue in 2022. Photo: Leslie Yager
The 2026 season will be the sixth year of outdoor dining inside “nodes” which are the jersey barriers that enclose metered parking spaces.
The Board of Selectmen serve as the town’s Traffic Authority, including parking on public highways.
Planning & Zoning’s jurisdiction is over what is permitted inside the nodes.
DPW installs and removes the jersey barriers.
There are two sets of fees: one for the disposed parking spots and one for the installation and removal of the concrete jersey barriers.
Ms Buch offered two options for dates: one to end at approximately the same time as last year, and one to end two weeks sooner – closer to the start of October.
• Friday May 22 through Sunday Oct 18, 2026.
• Friday May 22 through Sunday Oct 4, 2026.
The proposal notes the fee per public parking space is $12/day. The town will provide the traffic barriers to restaurants at the cost of $48.50 per linear foot.
Outdoor dining areas can’t expand past the restaurant’s building frontage.
In 2025 the town collected a total of $110,640 in fees from 17 restaurants. Fees included $33,840 in barrier costs and $76,800 in parking stalls revenue.
The cost per restaurant for the season would be more than $6500 (option 1) for the longer stretch and about $400 less for the shorter season ending on Oct 4 (option 2).
After Covid, Shortening the Outdoor Dining Season Year after Year
Back in 2020 the rapid expansion of outdoor dining along Greenwich Avenue was driven by Covid-19 safety measures and Governor Lamont’s executive orders.
The 2025 season was also shortened from the previous year to run from May 23 through October 19, 2025.
In 2024, the outdoor dining season ran from April 1 through Nov 3.
Back in 2021, the season ran April 20 until December 19.
“The reason is that while we still have some good weather days in October, the nodes don’t get much use on weekdays and the crew that sets up and takes down those nodes is also the same crew that’s going to be doing the leaf collection,” Buch said. “In order to help them get the leaf collection done, it would be better if we could end the season sooner.”
Also, Ms Buch said the fee for jersey barriers was also proposed to increase based on the increased costs for personnel to remove the barriers.
Mr. Camillo recalled that the outdoor dining started during Covid, when the nodes were free to restaurants.
From there, the cost went to 25% of the lost revenue for the stalls.
“For several years now, we don’t lose a penny on the parking stalls but it does cost us money with DPW, the manpower, and taking things up and down,” he said. “We want to recapture some of that money and still make it worthwhile for the restaurants.”
“I hate to take them down on October 4, especially if we have a good October but we have found that the last several years, people are using it so much during the summer then late September hits, it starts to go away and people start going back inside. It gets a little chilly and they’re used to the warm weather,” he said.
The issue of equity for retailers was not brought up this week, but in the past it was noted that there are 408 parking spaces on Greenwich Avenue and the nodes displaced 65 of them.
Former Selectperson Janet Stone McGuigan had brought up the issue of fairness to retail stores on Greenwich Avenue who rely on their customers access to parking.
Outdoor dining barriers wrapped with decorative grass at restaurants on Chatsworth Ave in Larchmont benefit from an active outdoor dining season that runs through September. Sept 23, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yager
Lauren Rabin said efforts had gone into improving the look of the barriers.
“Especially as we compare ourselves to other municipalities that are also doing outdoor dining,” she said. “That’s something we’ll talk about.”
Ms Rabin mentioned working with officers of “Greenwich Forward,” a 501(c) 3 who could help coordinate improvements to the jersey barriers as well as change brackets to the lamp posts in order to add patriotic flags. 
Thursday’s proposal was a first read and the Selectmen seek feedback from the public before their second read in two weeks.
See also:
Selectmen Consider Public Hearing on School Speed Zone Cameras
March 12, 2026
Previous stories on outdoor dining:
Outdoor Dining Season Proposed to Be Shortened in 2025 March 1, 2025
Selectmen Consider Shortening Outdoor Dining Season in 2024; ADA Accessibility & Compliance Urged Feb 19, 2024
P&Z Outdoor Dining Workshop Feedback: Unsightly, Unneeded, Unfair July 2022
P&Z Outdoor Dining Workshop: Balancing Vibrancy with Health, Safety & Limited Parking September 15, 2022
P&Z Revised Outdoor Dining Reg Adds Teeth: Violations Risk Immediate Closure December 2022