Street closures for outdoor dining could potentially come to an end in Doral

DORAL, FL – The special permits for street closures to expand outdoor dining in Doral and other municipalities across Miami-Dade County are about to expire. The City, however, already said they won’t apply to extend such permits that benefit NW 53rd Street. 

Permits were granted due to the coronavirus pandemic when capacity at restaurants in indoor spaces needed to be reduced together with social distancing, which ultimately left an impact on businesses. 

Miami-Dade County has expressed city leaders can reapply for the permits under a non-pandemic permit category. Those requests will be expedited, according to the county.

Now, Governor Ron DeSantis executive order invalidates all remaining COVID-19 emergency orders by July 1, including the special permits for street closures that will expire as well. 

“We, during this period of COVID, didn’t have a problem closing off that main road for a time period, because it helped the businesses. Now the businesses are at more than 100% capacity, and eventually, the outdoor dining permits that we’ve given will go back to the normal rules probably in about four or five months,” Doral Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez said.

“I think that the decision really is downtown Doral, along with the vendors in that area, they certainly have a right to talk to Miami-Dade County, who is the entity that would make the decision whether or not that main road could be permanently closed.”

The Department of Transportation and Public Works confirmed it’s been coordinating with cities that originally requested the street closures to come with a plan to solve this issue, including Miami, Miami Beach and Coral Gables.

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