At your regular meeting on May 5, 2020, City Council discussed the closing of Railroad Square to allow businesses who were forced to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic to utilize the outdoor space in order to continue operations. In response to the discussion, the City Attorney drafted the attached Order for Temporary Public Use of Railroad Square Right-of-Way.  As you can see, the provisions in the order were intended to be temporary in nature and would terminate upon the entry of any such order by the Governor that would remove any restrictions that were currently in place.  As you are well aware, on May 3, 2021 Governor DeSantis signed an Executive Order 21-102 which suspended all local state of emergencies and called for a return to normal day-to-day operations as access to the COVID-19 vaccination was readily available to all Floridians.

Therefore in accordance with the provisions outlined in the Order for Temporary Public Use of Railroad Square Right-of-Way, it is staff's recommendation that the closing of Railroad Square on weekend evenings should be discontinued effective immediately.  

Since several of you have expressed interest in keeping the closure permanent post-pandemic, I thought it was necessary to bring this item to you for your consideration.

Please be advised that staff will be bringing to you for your consideration more permanent options regarding outdoor dining at a future Council meeting.