Comptroller Investigation Finds More than Half of Restaurants in Outdoor Dining Program Waited Over 19 Months for Permits,...

Comptroller Investigation Finds More than Half of Restaurants in Outdoor Dining Program Waited Over 19 Months for Permits, Delays Deprive Businesses of Much-Needed Revenue

New York, NY - A Comptroller's Office investigation of the City's Dining Out NYC program found that more than half of restaurants that have received outdoor dining permits since the program's launch in March 2024 waited over 19 months for approval. This far exceeds the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) eight-month timeline for approvals. Of the nearly 5,000 applications submitted from 2024 through mid-June 2026, just 28.6% had been approved, and only 1 of 388 submitted in 2026 had been approved as of June 15, when the investigation was conducted.

The investigation also found that, while DOT has significantly increased application approvals since June, the agency lacks an adequate system-of-record for tracking applications through the stages of the process, limiting its ability to identify bottlenecks, measure delays, and ensure timely approvals.

"Outdoor dining has become a staple of New York City's streetscape and a lifeline for small businesses," said City Comptroller Mark Levine. "Unfortunately, the permitting process is a maze of approvals that takes far too long, depriving restaurants, bars, and cafes of expanded capacity and sorely needed revenue. Restaurant owners deserve a faster, simpler, and more predictable permitting process, so they can focus on serving New Yorkers and contributing to the vitality of our neighborhoods."

"No small business in our city should be held back waiting for a permit for a year and a half," said City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu. "Outdoor dining provides critical revenue for restaurants trying to keep their doors open, and our program has become a central part of how we enjoy our neighborhoods. Comptroller Levine has shed light on a critical issue, and I look forward to supporting his office to ensure that bureaucracy doesn't slow down outdoor dining's success."

"Nine out of ten restaurants stopped participating in outdoor dining since the seasonal program launched in 2024," said City Council Member Lincoln Restler, Chair of the Committee on Contracts. "In addition to implementing the new law to restore year-round outdoor dining, DOT needs to make significant operational improvements to speed up the application process and make it easier for small businesses to participate. I appreciate Comptroller Levine calling attention to these unacceptable and avoidable delays."

"New York City's outdoor dining program should support small businesses, create jobs, and bring vibrancy to our neighborhoods, but lengthy bureaucratic delays are undermining those benefits. Restaurants can lose an entire outdoor dining season waiting for approval, costing them critical revenue and employment opportunities," saidAndrew Rigie, Executive Director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance. "Comptroller Levine's investigation underscores the urgent need to streamline government reviews, establish clear approval timelines, and allow restaurants to operate under temporary permits to eliminate unnecessary delays that hurt restaurants, workers, and the communities they serve."

In May, the Office began an investigation into the persistent delays leading up to DOT's filing of applications for registration. The Comptroller's Office registers permits in an average of 7.9 days, and since September 2024 has authorized DOT to allow restaurants to participate immediately upon filing for registration.

The share of the City's approximately 27,000 restaurants participating in outdoor dining has dropped sharply since the Covid-19 pandemic, down from a peak approaching 13,000 to just under 2,500. With the passage of Local Law 135 this August, granting roadway cafes the ability to operate year-round, restaurants could face fewer barriers to participation by avoiding seasonal construction, dismantling and storage costs.

Other key findings in the report include:

• Fewer than twenty applications had been approved within DOT's estimated eight-month approval timeline as of June 15, 2026.

• Restaurants often engage in monthslong dialogue with DOT staff to complete preliminary application documentation requirements, including highly technical information well beyond the reasonable capacity of small business owners.

• There has been an increase in the volume of applications submitted to the Comptroller's Office since the start of this review. An additional 1,092 applications have been submitted to the Office of the Comptroller for registration between June 15, 2026 and October 21, 2026. As of June 15, 2026, however, 2,115 applications were still pending with DOT.

• DOT was not able to demonstrate that it tracks how long applications spend at each stage of the process, or that it has a system to track reasons for permit denials.

• The absence of meaningful and complete data significantly hinders DOT's ability to understand the causes of delays and how to fix them.

The New York City Commission on Government Efficiency proposed a charter amendment aimed at reducing application delays by shortening or eliminating certain external review requirements, including public hearings and City Record publication timelines. Independent of whether the proposed charter amendment is adopted, DOT should take additional steps to streamline the application process.

To that end, the Comptroller's Office offered several recommendations, including:

• Develop better data management and tracking. Producing and publishing routine management reports showing processing times, pending workloads, and stage-specific performance will help identify bottlenecks.

• Develop performance targets. Each stage of the process, internally at DOT and externally, should be assigned a target for processing time and tracked against such targets. A target should also be established for clearing the backlog, and a plan implemented to comply with the 2-month approval timeline under consideration by voters on the November ballot.

• Enhance User Experience. DOT should develop a tool capable of automatically populating certain geospatial information based on basic information restaurants provide. DOT should also develop a user-friendly sketching tool to propose outdoor furniture placement.

• Support more flexible design standards. A broader range of street furniture features, including all-season furniture, could help lower upfront capital costs for restaurants.

You can read the full report here: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/investigation-of-processing-times-in-dots-dining-out-nyc-program/

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