Curb Cafes to Come to Carlsbad

Downtown restaurants will soon be able to offer diners a unique dining experience.

The Carlsbad City Council Tuesday night approved a three-year pilot program allowing Carlsbad Village restaurants to turn the parking spaces in front of their businesses into patios.

The program is the first of its kind in San Diego County. Long Beach, San Francisco and New York are some of the other cities that permit “curb cafes.”

Belynn Gonzales, owner of Garcia's Mexican Restaurant, urged council members to allow curbside dining. Her grandparents opened the restaurant in 1960 and she has since expanded to Encinitas. Now, Gonzales said she's “coming back home.”

“This has been one of my visions – to see it grow,” said Gonzales, who has lived in Carlsbad for more than 50 years.

Gonzales’ son, Alfredo Gonzales, said curb cafes would increase revenues for business owners and offer more opportunities for job seekers.

“I believe it to be progressive – a real sexy idea for something that we can incorporate in this city,” he said.

The proposed curb cafe for Garcia's Mexican Restaurant would use two parking spaces in front of the business.

Carlsbad resident Peter Rogers said community members shouldn’t view curb cafes as eliminating parking spaces, but adding new places for people to dine.

“One of the reasons I moved here to Carlsbad is because of the forethought of some of the citizens and Belynn continues that tradition,” said Rogers, who met his wife at Garcia's Mexican Restaurant, where his son is now an employee.

In a 3-0 vote, council members agreed with the three public speakers. Mayor Matt Hall and Councilman Mark Packard recused themselves from the vote because they own property in Carlsbad Village.

“I really like this project,” said Councilwoman Farrah Douglas. “I think that it’s exactly in line with what we were planning to do with the Village as far as the revitalization, bringing more foot traffic to the Village. It also provides outdoor eating because a lot of people like to sit outside, especially in Carlsbad where the weather is so nice and the air is so good and clean.”

Businesses will have to apply for a permit to open a curb cafe. The ordinance allows as many as 11 curb cafes in the area except along Carlsbad Boulevard and Carlsbad Village Drive because of high traffic volume. The program will allow no more than four curb cafes per block, except for State Street, which may have as many as five curb cafes.