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File Number: 20-509 <br />On October 13, 2020, the State of California announced that Alameda County entered the Orange Tier <br />of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy due to decreased COVID-19 case and positivity rates. On <br />October 23, 2020, a revised Alameda County Shelter-in-Place Order became effective that allows for <br />expanded business and recreational activities, including limited indoor dining, up to 25% capacity or <br />less than 100 people. <br />While the Shelter-in-Place Order was revised to permit limited indoor dining on October 23, 2020, it is <br />expected that restaurants and customers will continue to rely heavily on third-party delivery services for <br />the foreseeable future. It is expected that many patrons will continue to prefer to utilize food delivery <br />services rather than in-person dining due to individual comfort level and safety concerns, as well as <br />changes in habit. It is unclear how quickly restaurant patrons will return to restaurant dining and <br />restaurants may continue to see a significant loss of revenue for an ongoing period of time. <br />As restaurants return to modified, lower capacity service, they must take on the increased costs and <br />logistics of creating new, physically distanced dining areas and implementing increased training and <br />sanitation measures. Additionally, the limited amount of indoor seating (and limited or no outdoor <br />seating for most) continues to significantly limit restaurants’ ability to cover their baseline operating and <br />staff costs, which were designed for full capacity operations. Many restaurants were already operating <br />with thin margins prior to the pandemic and are struggling to continue operations and cover current and <br />past rent. <br />It is in the interest of public health and welfare that restaurants continue to operate and not close due to <br />the inability to cover their fixed costs. Restaurants provide a vital source of food for those who cannot <br />prepare their own, a source of employment for many, and contribute to the vitality of the City. It is <br />expected that the need for limited fees from third-party delivery companies will continue until restaurants <br />are able to resume full, normal operations, and the local state of emergency has ended, and customers <br />feel comfortable resuming more ‘normal’ dining-out habits. <br />As such, the Declaration of the Director of Emergency Services has been amended to revise the date <br />at which the limit on third-party delivery fees ends. Rather than ending at the sooner of indoor dining <br />being permitted, or the end of the local state of emergency, the declaration has been amended to <br />continue through the full local state of emergency. This timeframe is generally consistent with similar <br />declarations in neighboring cities, including Hayward, Fremont and Dublin. <br />Per the declaration, the change to the ending of the temporary limit went into effect on October 23, <br />2020. The Director of Emergency Services recommends that the City Council confirm the Director of <br />Emergency Services’ declaration in conformance with emergency procedures. <br />ATTACHMENT(S) <br />Attachment to Resolution <br />·Declaration <br />PREPARED BY: Katie Bowman, Economic Development Manager <br />Page 2 City of San Leandro Printed on 11/11/2020