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The Coimbra City Council (CM) will authorize the extension of the terraces to help mitigate the losses of the restoration establishments that are subject to various restrictions in their operation due to the contingency measures for COVID-19.
The mayor, Manuel Machado, has already authorized the criteria to change the rules for the occupation of public space in order to allow more and more terraces throughout the municipality, in addition to the previously announced exemption from the tariffs until the end of the year.
CM Coimbra is advancing with another measure to support economic activity in the face of the negative impacts of the pandemic, now allowing the terraces of restaurants, cafes and patisseries to be expanded, if they wish and within the determined criteria, to comply with the rules of distance recommended by health authorities and determined by the Government.
These establishments, which will be able to resume their activities on May 18 in accordance with the distrust plan announced by the Government, are obliged to guarantee a distance of at least two meters between people, which is reduced by 50%. The capacity of the restoration spaces. In view of this, the municipality decided to allow the terraces to be increased, up to double, increasing the distance between the sets of tables and chairs to comply with the determined rules, without affecting the number of available seats.
Thus, the possibility of occupying terraces in squares and squares is foreseen, for example, in Praça da República; Largo da Portagem, which allows the extension at the beginning of Rua da Couraça da Estrela and the Banco de Portugal; the access road to Praça das Cortes along Av. João das Rules, where vehicle traffic will be closed and parking will be prohibited; and Praça 8 de Maio. This situation can be practiced throughout the municipality, until September 30, in places where this is possible, and the authorization procedure will be simplified.
Interested parties must therefore submit an application to the municipality, accompanied by a photograph or plan of the location of the place to be occupied; drawing, plan or photograph with the measurements of the terrace; and proof of the status of the owner, possessor, lessee, agent or other title that grants the legitimacy of submitting the request. In the cases in which the planned installation exceeds the width limits of the establishment’s facade, as in most cases on the axis of Ferreira Borges and Visconde da Luz streets, authorization from residents is required to occupy the respective spaces.
Already on Friday, in statements to Lusa, the president of CM Coimbra, Manuel Machado, said that the municipality was studying the relaxation of the occupation of public space for terraces, and stressed that this measure must obey the rules, that is, in the sense to maintain the “good neighborhood” relationship between commercial establishments and to ensure the passage of emergency vehicles and public transportation that cross pedestrian areas in the downtown area.
It is recalled that CM Coimbra has implemented various measures to support the commerce and catering sector, which has been one of the most affected by the pandemic. Therefore, the municipality will exempt, until the end of the year, the fees for the occupation of public space and advertising in all commercial establishments in the municipality, except for banking, credit and insurance institutions. A measure to support economic activity against the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which entered into force in April, May, and June, and now extends for another six months, until the end of the current economic year. With this measure, the municipality estimates that it will provide the municipality’s merchants with an overall saving of more than 100,000 euros, which represents a considerable loss of revenue for the City Council, but which can be supported by the good management of municipal finances.
Meanwhile, other measures came into force, namely, exemption from the payment of fixed water and sanitation tariffs to commercial, industrial and service companies; the suspension of rent collection for the months of April, May and June, due to commercial establishments installed in leased and / or concessioned municipal buildings / spaces, closed by the imposition of state of emergency regulations; and the provision of the Municipal Investor Support Office, which, together with IAPMEI, provides information on the procedures necessary to access incentive programs and economic recovery measures to safeguard jobs.
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