RIVER NORTH — Outdoor dining will return to a portion of Clark Street in River North this summer — but the street’s traffic lanes will remain open while dining will be allowed on the sidewalk and in parking lanes.
The Chicago Department of Transportation has issued a permit allowing curb lane closures on Clark Street between Grand Avenue and Kinzie Street, according to a statement released Wednesday afternoon by the Mayor’s Office.
The permit is effective immediately through the end of October.
The permit’s issuance means the popular outdoor dining program will come back in some fashion this summer, after local leaders signaled it would not return due to outcry from neighbors. But unlike in past years, when restaurants were allowed to set up tables across the entire street, the impacted portion of Clark Street will remain open to traffic.
The compromise comes as neighborhood groups and some nearby restaurant owners lobbied against the COVID-era program.
In the statement, the Mayor’s Office said the deal “balances the needs of residents, businesses, workers, visitors, and the local community.”
“The format will give participating restaurants extra capacity and create an inviting outdoor space for dining, while taking into account the need for accessibility and traffic flow in the River North community,” the statement said.
Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), who previously said he was pressured by the Mayor’s Office to announce the program’s end after the 2023 season, tweeted Wednesday he was “not remotely happy” with the compromise plan.
Reilly said he had been negotiating with city departments over the return of Clark Street outdoor dining. Officials came up with a compromise to allow curb-lane dining to start the summer followed by a full closing of Clark Street in mid-June, following NASCAR’s takeover of Grant Park. The Mayor’s Office rejected the proposal, Reilly said in a statement.
“While I support the curb-lane closures, I remain concerned that illegal deliveries and loading activity in active traffic lanes; coupled with illegal rideshare staging and party bus drop-offs will have a horrendous impact on traffic flow and safety on Clark Street,” Reilly said in a letter to the Mayor’s Office that was shared with media.
The Clark Street program has been profitable for restaurant owners along the stretch of Clark Street and popular among neighbors, according to a 2023 survey by Reilly’s office.
But the program did not sit well with other River North restaurant owners as well as neighborhood groups and union representatives. Among those opposed to the program was Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group CEO Grant DePorter, whose company’s namesake restaurant sits a block away from the Clark Street restaurants on Kinzie and didn’t benefit from the outdoor dining program.
Restaurant groups and neighbors complained the dining program caused traffic and congestion problems. A dozen letters in opposition to the program were sent to the Mayor’s Office from notable neighborhood and trade groups between 2022 and 2023, Block Club reported.
Reilly told neighbors last year the popular program would not extend into 2024. He later told Block Club he was strong armed by City Hall into saying the program would end after 2023 in order to get permits approved for that summer.
“I hated making that deal. But at that time, it was my hope that over the course of a year, the administration’s view of this program on Clark Street would evolve and that they would reverse course,” Reilly told Block Club.
News of the program ending prompted backlash from neighbors this spring.
City officials denied the program was discontinued this year, pointing to the city ordinance, which allows any three restaurants along the same block to apply for the permit.
“Per city ordinance, CDOT [Chicago Department of Transportation] reviews all applications for street and curb lane closures and seeks input from multiple other city departments and from the Alderman of the impacted ward. So far this year, CDOT has not received any permit applications for expanded outdoor dining on Clark Street in River North,” department spokesperson Erica Schroeder said in a statement in March.
The city’s outdoor dining program was created by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot during the pandemic as a way for restaurants to use the public way for safely seating customers. Mayor Brandon Johnson made the program permanent in May, allowing restaurants to apply for expanded outdoor dining permits.
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