EASTHAMPTON — Thanks to a mayoral order, Silver Spoon is expanding its outdoor dining — into the street.
“This way it gives us double our outside capacity,” said Donna Geis, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Peter.
The Silver Spoon has set up four picnic tables, spaced 6 feet apart, in three parking spaces in front of the Main Street restaurant. The restaurant was given approval for the expansion under a mayoral order that allows for restaurants to expand seating into parking on Main Street.
“We’re giving it a try,” said Mayor Nicole LaChapelle.
Jeff Bagg, the city’s planner, said that no one else has applied for the expansion yet. He also said that the order came about after Silver Spoon approached the city about expanding its outdoor seating.
“They were looking for some help,” he said.
Restaurants that are granted seating expansions will be able to use them until Nov. 30. They’re responsible for the costs of setting up the seating, and must separate the seating from vehicles via concrete barriers.
Geis noted the high demand her restaurant has gotten for outdoor seating.
“If given a choice, people are requesting outside,” Geis said. “A lot of people will wait for an outside table.”
She said the expansion will be a “huge difference for us.”
Asked about the order’s effect on parking, the mayor said that “right now it’s a good balance./”
The concrete barriers for Silver Spoon arrived Thursday, and the new tables were made available for customer use.
“We’ve had people already try to sit at these tables,” Geis said, speaking before the barriers arrived.
The city is also looking at allowing the expansion of seating into parking on Cottage Street and Union Street as well, Bagg said, if businesses want to try it.
“We don’t want to force it on them,” he said.