The bulk of last week’s Council Meeting was spent debating the Face Covering and Restaurant Occupancy legislation. Since the meeting, the Governor has issued a statewide face covering mandate, thereby making most of the resolution redundant. However, it is my position that it is still necessary to pass our own face covering legislation because doing so would make any violation of the resolution a non-criminal offense (it’s a criminal offense under the Governor’s mandate) and some courts have held that the Governor’s mandate is unenforceable.
The resolution in its original form would have required restaurants to reduce their occupancy by 50% or 25% upon an approval of a site plan. As I wrote in last week’s newsletter, I objected to this blanket reduction because many Lakewood businesses have invested in safety measures to comply with the State’s Sector Specific Operating Requirements. Mayor George has provided Council with a revised version that replaces the reduced occupancy requirement with the following language:
"Businesses and operations which have the onsite consumption of food, beer, wine and liquor must have their customers seated, with tables limited to no more than 10 persons and must maintain six foot social distancing for both employees and members of the public at all times including, but not limited to, when customers are standing in line, following the orders of the Director of Health as applicable to that individual business. Restrictions on businesses and operations shall not apply to religious gatherings or health care facilities including but not limited to medical offices, emergency departments, and nursing homes.”
The resolution will be discussed further at tonight’s Health & Human Services Committee meeting at 7:00 PM.
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