Dublin Taking Bold Steps to Attract More Restaurants
The City of Dublin recently relaxed its restaurant parking standards and brought them more in line with the parking requirements for other cities in the Tri-Valley. The new parking standards apply “common sense” logic towards determining the number of required parking spaces. Under the legacy parking requirement, Nothing Bundt Cakes in The Shops at Tralee, for example, required 19 parking spaces, because the storefront has 1,900-square-foot of space. Of course, Nothing Bundt Cakes customers typically only need a few minutes to complete their transactions, and the shop typically has no more than a handful of customers at any given time. Similarly, Papa John’s take-out pizza had a 12 parking space requirement under the old rules. The new rules significantly reduce the number of required spaces for both businesses.
The new parking ordinance frees up spaces allotted to current restaurants that can now be used for incoming restaurants. The reduced requirement will provide a competitive boost for shopping centers that have limited parking such as the Ulferts Center, Grafton Station, The Shops at Waterford, and Dublin Corners (home to Tomatina). Restaurants will now be able to operate in Dublin without having to jump through as many hoops as before to be granted the special parking exceptions.
Under the legacy rules, outdoor seating used to require one space for every 100 square feet of restaurant area. This mandate created a disincentive for restaurants to provide outdoor seating due to the scarcity of parking spaces in the newer plazas. The “common sense” requirements now provide a parking space exemption for the first 12 outdoor seats and then one space for every additional three outdoor seats. While acknowledging that the recent change is a good first step, Dublin Mayor Tim Sbranti noted that the City of Dublin could still be “double-counting” the number of required spaces, since patrons rarely use both indoor and outdoor seating at the same time.
In another bold move, the City of Dublin and the Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) have partnered to create water and sewer connection fee credits for restaurants looking to move into new or expanded spaces. Dublin City Council will discuss and potentially approve the new connection fee credit program at the May 4th meeting.
These recent actions dovetail with Dublin’s existing business-friendly sales tax reimbursement program and streamlined permit process.
Please contact Dublin’s Planning Department at (925)833-6610 for more information.
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8:31 AM on April 28th, 2010
This is a good move. For example, Burger King removed its outdoor play area. Now BK could put in some outdoor seating without having to add parking.
8:54 AM on April 28th, 2010
I will say that it is good that at least the Mayor and city council are being as proactive as they can be during these economic times. I believe it has helped an will continue to help draw business here. That sewer/water hookup fee is outrageous.
9:17 AM on April 28th, 2010
IMHO the Ulfert’s center does not have enough parking at peak times (e.g. lunch). Hopefully reducing the sewer connection fee will encourage someone to put something in the former Stacey’s and the other empty storefronts in the area!
5:54 PM on April 28th, 2010
Does anyone know if there is any truth to the rumor that The Spaghetti Factory will be moving into the area that is currently a nail salon and formerly Stacey’s and Block Buster across from Safeway?
9:48 AM on April 29th, 2010
The only time I’ve ever heard of The Spaghetti Factory coming down here is in these user comments (someone here loves them).. Not sure if there was anything more to that or not–
John, I think the two hottest topics you have on this site are school related and restaurants coming here.. I would LOVE for you to have a large poll— list a bunch of possible restaurants (different categories too). Let us readers vote on them— You (or someone) could then pass the results to 1) local property owners trying to rent their spaces out, they may be able to use that as they try to woo restaurants to open up in Grafton Station,etc… and 2) send them directly to the restaurant company.. “over 400 residents have voted yours as the MOST DESIREABLE to come to Dublin!”– I think that may not be the final answer but I cannot see how that would not be a positive way for us hungry Dubliners to get the word out to the restaurant companies!—
I live in Dublin Ranch and I can’t wait for more restaurants to open in Grafton Station–I (and thousands of others) would LOVE to just walk to restaurants, not have to get into the car– we have it right there in Grafton Station, now we only need some restaurants to come!
10:55 AM on April 29th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – that’s an excellent suggestion. I’ll see what we can put together. Anything that we can do to bring in more quality and complementary restaurants would be time well spent.
Thx, John Z.
12:17 PM on April 29th, 2010
Common sense coming out of Dublin? Shocking indeed.
I’m all for new restaurants as long as architecturally there’s no resemblance to the Ulferts Center building. Nice, unique shops but the building itself looks like something out of the Jetson’s cartoon.
12:28 PM on April 29th, 2010
I applaud the enthusiasm, but I think we need a little more evidence than just some online polling. If Dublin really has hundreds or thousands of people ready to walk to Grafton Station for retail and fine dining, we need to capture that demand on film. I think we’ve already done way too much polling. The latest one was that farmer’s market. In spite of the overwhelming support for one, I see not one fruit stand at Emerald Glen.
If the City is serious about attracting businesses, it needs to hold a special event at Grafton Station this year and show how walkable Grafton Station really is. If there is enough hoopla surrounding the event, local news will pick it up. Sure it may look desperate, but as long as we get a few good restaurants to bite, who cares? If we can elect a woman of ill-repute into office multiple times, I think we’ve stopped caring about our public image a long time ago, so a little desperation is really just what we need.
1:18 PM on April 29th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t refer to a member of our Council that way.
Thx, John Z.
12:54 PM on April 29th, 2010
John I found out that Club Sport will not be moving into downtown Pleasanton. Maybe that is still good news for the Promenade.
1:20 PM on April 29th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – that is fantastic news. I had heard a week or two ago that Club Sport is still talking in development circles about eventually building in Dublin…so these two pieces of information add up to some good news for Dublin.
Thx, John Z.
8:55 PM on April 29th, 2010
Did anyone notice that the Radisson hotel is now Holiday Inn? This is the one near Outback Steakhouse and Bunjo’s.
9:14 PM on April 29th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – yes, this was a recent change. Mike Madden spent a fortune renovating the former Radisson hotel as part of the conversion. The new Dublin Holiday Inn’s staff is undergoing a substantial amount of training to get up to speed on Holiday Inn’s best practices. The change/rebrand is a win for Dublin.
Thx, John Z.
10:29 PM on April 29th, 2010
This is all great news! Dublin is actually being pro-business! I hope the trend continues. Pro-local businesses = pro-residents.
11:28 AM on April 30th, 2010
Exactly right, Lisa. That is why James and Mary have tucked their tails so quickly after they were caught threatening local businesses. If you check the Facebook page, you’ll see how angry people are at those two. I find it all too ironic that the City is terrorizing local businesses with their one high school agenda by cutting off local businesses’ life blood with a boycott and then turning around to ask them for financial support. If Dublin can’t get that America’s City award, we can all pin the blame on them. Pillars of the community my ass.
Just watch. The ODers will now asking everyone in Dublin to subsidize the underperforming schools on the West side. They need consent from the East to get that tax passed, since they will need a super majority. If people on the East side don’t fall for it, they will simply use DPIE to funnel money from one side of town to another. That’s the way it’s always been. The first step is this new parcel tax they are now floating out there.
I find it funny how James and Mary were trying to scare people away from Tassajara Prep by repeating Ad nauseam how Tassajara Prep won’t be able to operate without thousands of dollars from families just like Pacific Collegiate. First of all, I don’t remember hearing from Day on the Glen or reading the articles here that Tassajara Prep will be asking hefty donations from parents. Second of all, even if they ask for money, they will only be asking it from parents who have kids in the school. They won’t be asking everyone in the city to chip in. I think that is another clear difference between the two schools that now just emerged. John Z. and team, do us all a favor and verify that LVCS has NOT floated any parcel tax measure in the City of Livermore.
4:08 PM on April 30th, 2010
Uh…If you want to rant about Tassajara prep there’s another place on this blog for that. Let’s stay on topic please.
8:13 AM on May 9th, 2010
Let me toss a few of our family’s favorites into the pot if you are putting together a wish list of restaurants.
Large National Chains:
Il Fornaio, Buca di Beppo, Sphagetti Factory,The Melting Pot, BJ’s,The Fish Market, Gyu Kaku, Boudin SF, Maggianos.
Smaller Chains or fast eats:
Left Bank, Straits Cafe, Asqew Grill,Sushi Maru,Daphne’s,Boston Market, Lawry’s Carvery, Vie de France.
Small Chains or privately owned:
Yamata Japanese,Waco,Le Cheval.
Steakhouses:
Ruth Chris, Flemmings, Morton’s, Forbe’s Mills, House of Prime Rib (1 of any of these would be just fine)
5:02 PM on May 10th, 2010
How about some Indian restaurants to the mix ?
11:12 PM on May 10th, 2010
Amber India from Mountain View, wonderful. They opened a location on Market Street in SF too. A Market Broiler would be nice too.
6:41 AM on May 12th, 2010
I would like to see Dublin have more “locally” owned family style restaurants and less “chain” restaurants. More FJL’s and less Applebee’s style restaurants in the area.
10:29 PM on May 14th, 2010
Just went to the new Sushi House of Saki at Ulferts, what a scam. Their specialty is the all you can eat Sushi Menu. Sounds great as I love Sushi and could head $20 plus worth in a heartbeat. Also sounds great that it is not mass produced but made to order so the quality should be better even for a buffet. Rightfully so they limit your table time to a max of 2 hours, also you could only order 3 plates at a time to avoid waste. That makes sense.
Whats wrong? Well everytime you your 3 plates it take them 15-20 minutes to get the sushi to you. That is after waiting 5-10 minutes for a waitresses to come by and take your next order. Thus the restuarant owners are the ones controlling how much you could eat as you only have 2 hours. At 20 minutes avergar wait time for each 3 plate order, you won’t be able to eat $20 worth of sushi. Also the fish are not fresh at all. The Tako I had was fishy, a bit spoiled.
Funny as we sat around and sat around waiting for a waitresse to take our next order of 3 plates we see tables of families and couple just bored out of their mines waiting for their sushi to come. A lot of staring into space wondering what did we do to waste $20 bucks.
I hope they get their act together or they won’t last long. Our family and friends that we tell this story to won’t be going there any time soon or ever at all. Posting on Yelp shortly to save others from wasting their $20 bucks only to be frustrate at the snail pace their sushi comes to the table.