Outdoor Furnishing Rules Amended By Board Of Works

Businesses in the Commercial-4 Business District downtown Warsaw won’t have to wait for their outdoor furnishing permits to be approved by the Board of Public Works and Safety anymore.
City Planner Justin Taylor presented a proposal to the board on Friday to revise the outdoor furnishing rules, which would allow the Warsaw Building and Planning Department to approve the permit requests rather than being brought before the Board of Works.
“We initially started this pilot program 10 years ago, just to see if this would work in our downtown. We’ve had a lot of success with it. We do understand this (Board of Works) meeting can be very packed with items, so to make this meeting more efficient, we’re proposing a revision to the rules for outdoor seating that would involve an approval at the planning office, rather than bringing them all through the Board of Works,” he explained.
If there’s an issue with a request, Taylor said they could still bring it before the Board of Works for their approval.
Mayor Jeff Grose stated, “I have felt like every time the Plan Department comes to us, all of the details and guidelines are worked out or they don’t come to us. I also agree with Justin, it’s very popular. Downtown merchants are following the guidelines. It seems to be working out really well.”
Councilwoman Diane Quance said it was actually her suggestion, “not because I don’t enjoy seeing these, because I do, but” the Building and Planning Department handles the permit requests well and they handle a number of other permits.
Before presenting the rules change, Taylor presented two outdoor furnishing permit applications. One was for Rex’s Rendezvous, 204 S. Buffalo St., and the other was for Falling Rabbit, 105 E. Center St. Both were approved.
The Board of Works unanimously approved the change in policy.