MEMPHIS, Tenn. — With the COVID crisis pushing more restaurant diners outdoors for safety, the city of Memphis is now allowing restaurants to have more outdoor dining spaces.
A new policy announced Wednesday will allow Memphis restaurants to temporarily expand outdoor dining onto parking lots or other privately owned properly immediately, so long as the expansion meets certain guidelines for access and safety.
Temporary expansion onto public sidewalks and even streets is also possible, with some conditions and approval required.
Code enforcement will watch for any safety violations.
The city said the new policy went into effect Tuesday, and is intended to be in place as long as the health department directive is limiting the capacity of restaurants.