Palm Springs to close Palm Canyon Drive for outdoor restaurant expansion

The Palm Springs City Council approved a full closure of a two block stretch of Palm Canyon Drive in downtown at a special meeting Thursday night. The move will allow businesses to expand their outdoor dining space to be able to serve more customers.

City officials hope the move will help struggling businesses affected by the pandemic.

"Even last night having gone downtown on a hot, humid night, a lot of people were eating outside once the sun went behind the mountains," said Mayor Geoff Kors. "So people want to be outside, and this could really help our businesses."

The council listened to two proposals up for consideration, either a full closure of Palm Canyon or reducing it from three southbound lanes to just two, giving businesses on each side some extra room in the street. Councilmembers weighed concerns over traffic, emergency vehicle access, pedestrian and dining safety, and effects on retail businesses.

Ultimately, the council decided on a full closure of Palm Canyon Drive from Tahquitz Canyon to Baristo Road.

Councilmember Lisa Middleton pointed out it would be safer to close the street than keep some lanes open. "It will be so much safer not to have vehicles going through the areas where people are dining out in the street," she said.

And as more businesses move outdoors, council hoped to keep sidewalks from becoming overcrowded.

"We're seeing a lot of feedback from our community that people are afraid to go downtown because there isn't enough room for social distancing," said Mayor Pro Tem Christy Holstege.

But they also expressed worry that businesses within the closure would have an unfair advantage. "We're sort of picking winners and losers," Kors said. "There's a lot of concern those restaurants would get the most."

They considered retailers too. "I could kind of see it both ways," said Councilmember Grace Garner. "I feel like there's more foot traffic; they might be getting more business than they realize but I'm also just wanting to be mindful of all our business on the street."

The changes are expected to come within two weeks.

The city council also discussed closing Arenas Road as well, but officials want to complete some outreach before making a decision on that.