La Goulue in Palm Beach approved for permanent outdoor seats - if conditions met

Provided two conditions are met, the La Goulue restaurant can proceed with its plan for permanent outdoor seating, the Town Council ruled Wednesday.

At the Town Council's development review meeting, officials from La Goulue, 288 S. County Road, proposed to place 28 permanent outdoor seats along the sidewalk on the restaurant’s north side along Royal Palm Way.

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To accommodate the plan, the restaurant asked for a variance to allow an unobstructed pedestrian pathway of 4 feet instead of 5 feet on the Royal Palm Way sidewalk. Town regulations require 5 feet without a variance.

Council members, though, expressed concerns about how crowded traffic can be on Royal Palm Way, raising doubts about granting the variance and about one of the outdoor tables La Goulue proposed near the corner of Royal Palm Way and South County Road.

“I’m only concerned because of Royal Palm Way," said council member Julie Araskog. "It’s such a busy street.”

Member Ted Cooney agreed, saying he was “a little troubled.”

Regarding La Goulue’s proposed corner table, he recounted how the Town Council denied the restaurant’s 2019 request to locate its front entrance at that corner. “This Town Council was so concerned about safety, it mandated the entrance be shifted (south) away from the corner," Cooney said.

The council unanimously denied the variance request while unanimously approving a site plan and special exception as long as La Goulue provides a 5-foot pedestrian pathway and removes or resituates the corner table.

The 28 outdoor seats do not increase the restaurant’s capacity; they’re drawn from the restaurant’s existing 138 seats, per regulations.

Restaurants must seek town approval for permanent outdoor seating under the town’s Outdoor Café Permit program, which replaces a temporary pandemic-era outdoor seating provision enacted in May 2020. La Goulue had been operating with temporary outdoor seating since December 2020.

Three establishments — Café L’Europe, Club Colette and PB Catch — have already had their requests for permanent outdoor seating approved by the Town Council. Cafe L’Europe was granted 34 permanent outdoor seats; Club Colette, 40; and PB Catch, 40.

Surfside Diner and Ta-boo have applied for permanent outdoor seating.

The application for the Outdoor Café Permit program is available on the town’s website, townofpalmbeach.com. The permit fee is $1,000 plus $50 per outdoor seat.

Pre-application orientations are offered monthly, town officials said.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach restaurant latest to be awarded permanent seating