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124 <br /> <br />Nursing School was interested in maintaining a pedestrian <br />walkway through the alley. <br /> <br /> Mr. Satyendra Huja, Director of Community Development, <br />stated that the City is waiting until a proposal ms <br />received from the property owner's attorney before taking <br />action. <br /> <br />PUBLIC HEARING: FEES FOR OUTDOOR CAFES <br /> <br /> Mr. Gary O'Connell, Deputy Assistant City Manager, <br />stated that a survey had been conducted of other cities <br />which have outdoor cafes on public property, but there <br />did not appMar to be a consensus on fees or how fees are <br />handled from city to city. Mr. O'Connell added that one <br />possibility was to relate the fees to the fees recently <br />established for push-cart vendors. <br /> <br /> Mr. David Damewood, owner of the restaurant, Zona Rosa, <br />proposed for the Central Place, stated that he felt the <br />restaurants were important to the downtown mall by <br />attracting activity to the mall and felt that the fee <br />should be as low as possible-so as not-to be a burden to <br />restaurants. <br /> <br /> Mr. Steve Tharpe, owner of Miller's Restaurant, stated <br />that he felt outdoor cafes are already taxed through <br />business licenses, tax on equipment and ABC taxes, and <br />questioned whether the City would act as a landlord if <br />fees were required by cleaning the area and making repairs <br />to fixtures. Mr. Tharpe added that the outdoor cafes were <br />encouraged by the City and he felt that high fees might <br />drive some restaurants out of business. Mr. Tharpe <br />questioned the purpose of the proposed fee. <br /> <br /> Mr. Buck stated that the issue of a fee had arisen <br />during the discussion of vendors and the fee could be <br />justified because the number of cafes had been limited to <br />one per block, and not alt persons who wished to operate <br />a cafe would be able to in the future. <br /> <br /> Mr. Tharpe stated that he could support a nominal <br />registration fee. <br /> <br /> As there were no other speakers the public hearing <br />was closed. <br /> <br /> Mr. Barnes stated that he did not feel it was logical <br />to parallel the vendor and outdoor cafe fees as the <br />vendors do not bring the same number of customers as the <br />restauranzs. <br /> <br /> Mrs. Gleason pointed out that the vendors on the mall <br />are not necessa~lyestablished businesses. <br /> <br /> Dr. Gunter questioned what would be gained by requiring <br />a nominal fee and added that she felt the cafes render a <br />service to the downtown mall. <br /> <br /> Mr. Hendrix stated that he fee had been proposed as <br />an equity issue with the vendors. <br /> <br /> On a question by Mrs. Gleason, Mr. Hendrix stated <br />that staff expense involved in the outdoor cafes would <br />be difficult to obtain. <br /> <br /> Mr. Buck suggested charging a $50 application fee and <br />making all future permits applicable for three years. <br /> <br /> Mrs. Gleason pointed out that Council may charge rent <br />in the future. <br /> <br /> <br />