It’s been nearly a month since the state reopened for business, valley cities are revisiting several ordinances put in place during the pandemic such as parking requirements and outdoor retail displays.

“It’s very important for us to have displays outside,” explained Gaby Velasqez, Associate of Mario’s of Palm Springs.

As Palm Springs city council comes together to review what may be outdated requirements retailers are hoping that rules won’t change when it comes to outdoor displays and parking, saying that the rules in place bring in good business.

“Even for the people who’re driving cars, they see, they stop, they come inside,” added Velasquez.

“I don’t see it as a problem, I don’t see a lot of shops having displays out and the few that do, I think it encourages people to come in especially this time of year when the doors need to shut,” said Steven Tifft, Manager of Brandini Toffee of Palm Springs.

Parking, also another topic on the forefront as regulations have not been reviewed for quite some time.

“We have parking regulations that really have not been received for over 30 years and so there are concerns that our parking requirements no longer match existing conditions. and so in many cases, businesses are required to provide more parking spaces than they actually need,” said Finn Fagg, Development Services Director with the city of Palm Springs.

“No parking, no business, so it’s very important to have parking,” exclaimed Velasquez

Others say they could do away with parking on Palm Canyon Drive altogether.

“Palm Canyon should be closed to traffic altogether and turn it into a pedestrian walkway like the promenade in Santa Monica, so many tourists disregard the traffic light and the traffic, and one of these days someone is going to get hit and killed,” said Tifft.

City officials say Thursday night will be the start of reviewing multiple ordinances and regulations, contributing parklets to being the main factor for promoting the reviews in the first place.

“It became exacerbated during covid in terms of the parklets, the expansion of outdoor dining, retail merchants became concerned that they needed opportunities for retail displays as well. So this is something that has become more necessary during the last year,” said Fagg.

City Council To Discuss Parking And Other Outdated Requirements