By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — A permit for seasonal outdoor dining was granted to Tarantino Restaurant in Saugatuck on Wednesday, one of the first outdoor “pop-up” dining permits approved since the town’s regulations for outdoor dining were updated in January.

The Board of Selectwomen granted the permit with the condition that bonding and insurance requirements are met and that the fire marshal approve Tarantino’s permit.

“We’ve come to realize that there is a great demand for outside dining in Westport. Customers really like to be outside,” Frank Marchetti, owner of Tarantino at 30 Railroad Place, told the selectwomen.

Although many local restaurants added areas for eating outside to keep their businesses afloat during the COVID-19  pandemic, dining outdoors is here to stay, he said. “It’s really great to have it in Saugatuck.”

Police Cpl. Al D’Amura said police officials have no objection to the loss of three parking spaces to make way for the tables and chairs outside Tarantino Restaurant, as long as the fire marshal approves. 

Restaurants in Saugatuck have been cooperative in working out paces for outdoor dining, D’Amura said, even when parking spaces are lost.

In the past, Tarantino was granted four spaces for its outdoor dining area, but Marchettit said he is satisfied to have three spots approved by the selectwomen and police this season. 

The guidelines for pop-up dining leave the number of parking spaces used for outside structures up to the town’s discretion for each permit application. 

Other guidelines in the revised regulations include setting the dates for outdoor dining from April 1 through Nov. 1, and establishing limits on hours of operation from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 6:30 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. No amplified outdoor music is allowed and no music after 9 p.m. any night.

Outdoor dining regulations limit eligibility to restaurants and retail food establishments with permits from the Aspetuck Health District, which have an acceptable rating from district officials for at least a year. 

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.