Sarasota seeks to make on-street dining permanent — at hefty cost

Pending Sarasota City Commission approval, a citywide parklet dining policy will be codified to go into effect when the current temporary extension that allows restaurants to set up tables in parking spaces on city streets expires on Sept. 30.

Gradually growing across the country for more than a decade, the parklet trend was turbocharged during the pandemic, as restaurants struggled to offer dining space to meet the comfort level of customers hesitant to dine indoors.