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Representatives of the municipalities of the big cities assure that the cafes, like last year, will be exempt from the local tax, and will be allowed to expand their area without disturbing other businessmen, pedestrians and cyclists nearby.
Municipalities receive daily requests for outdoor cafes
Representatives of the municipalities of Vilnius and Kaunas say that permits to set up outdoor cafes are received every day. Vilnius has already issued 321 permits and Kaunas more than 60, but there is no doubt that the numbers will continue to grow.
Kaunas Deputy Mayor Andrius Palionis said the municipality had issued nearly 70 of those permits last summer, with more likely this year. Also, this year, like last year, outdoor cafes will be exempt from local tolls, allowing them to expand their outdoor areas by agreement.
“Who can, is really expanding and growing. We try to create as much freedom as possible, if we can expand in the public area next to us, then we allow maximum expansion if only that need exists, ”A. Palionis told BNS.
According to him, last year outdoor cafes in the countryside occupied 3 thousand. kv. meters, and this year the area will reach at least 5 thousand. kv. meters.
“Where there is a concentration of cafes, there should definitely be a beautiful strip of outdoor cafes, the middle of Laisvės Alley and the edges remain for pedestrians and cyclists. Last year it was allowed to take three or four meters of tables there, just like this year, and the length depends on how many neighbors there are, ”said the deputy mayor of Kaunas.
At that time, the Vilnius municipality claims that in recent days it has received several dozen new applications for the construction of outdoor cafes, and by the summer their number may grow to 445, like last year.
According to Deimantė Rimkutė, a member of the Vilnius Council and a member of the Freedom Party faction, outdoor cafes in the capital will also be exempt from the fee, and those who rent premises from the municipality will not be able to pay up to 75%. rent. According to her, it is also planned to allocate more space for outdoor cafes this year than last year.
“We have included more spaces as options for outdoor cafes and the general trend is definitely bigger,” D Rimkutė told BNS.
According to her, sometimes the municipality receives complaints, but companies are responsible for the accuracy of the data at the time of submitting the requests.
We have complaints, but not so many, we evaluate all situations individually. (…) The issue of ‘Slope House’ has been raised and we are examining this case. If it turns out that the data was incorrect, we will remove that permission, but we don’t have that data yet, “said D. Rimkutė.
This week, due to the increasing scale of outdoor cafes in Vilnius, it is planned to restrict traffic on part of Senamiesčio streets: from Thursday until the end of October, traffic will be prohibited on Savičiaus street and on the part of the Gediminas avenue between Vilnius. and Šventaragio streets.
Representatives of the cafes awaited the releases.
Ingrida Valaitienė, director of the Palanga Hotel and Restaurant Association, was glad that she was allowed to go back to work. According to her, it was a long-awaited solution for the resort’s cafes.
“It just came to our knowledge then. These are the details of the resort, people are not in a hurry when they arrive, they want to sit on the outdoor terraces, they will order, I think there will be lines next to those cafes, because the number of tables in coffees are limited, ”I.Valaitienė told BNS.
According to her, so far about 15 cafes in Palanga have prepared take-out food, but as of Thursday there will be more, most will open.
“A small particle, maybe hotels, if they are involved, if they plan to open from the end of the month or from May, or they are late to prepare something, but they are planned from tomorrow anyway,” said the head of the association. .
According to her, most employees will return from downtime, although there are cases where some decide not to return to change jobs.
At the time, Gediminas Balnis, vice president of the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association and director of Amber Food, a company that runs more than fifty restaurants and pizzerias, says that the decision is overdue and no major changes are expected as that the weather is still too cold to sit outside.
“There is no big difference, those who worked and provided a horizontal scaling service, they are going to set up extra tables and it is likely that when it is hotter, in the afternoons, maybe there will be some people, but someone will reserve tables. It will not be ‘G. Balnis told BNS.
“It just came to our knowledge then. There will be more uncontrolled sitting on the curbs or more patchwork where there are no distances,” he added.
According to G. Balnis, the liberation is insufficient because he is not allowed to work inside.
Public catering establishments, restaurants, cafes and bars can resume outdoor activities from 7 am to 9 pm on Thursday, with no more than two people seated at a table, except members of a household.
There will also be catering facilities at the airport and sea passenger departure terminals when requested food and beverages are served at the tables.
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