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Zeeland looks to prop up downtown businesses with occasional street closures for outdoor dining, retail

The potential closure on Main Avenue would run between Church and Elm Streets.

ZEELAND, Mich. — As customers adjust to shopping and eating indoors amid a pandemic, officials in Zeeland are looking to create more space on the city's downtown drag for outdoor business. 

"We're just like any other community trying to find multiple ways to support our downtown businesses [as they] recover," City Manager Tim Klunder said. 

The Zeeland City Council authorized the potential closure of Main Avenue, from Elm to Church Streets, to allow restaurants and retailers to conduct business in an "open-air, social-distancing-friendly atmosphere."

Klunder's staff asked the council to support short-term windows, but remain open to longer closures. 

"Obviously with a 50% capacity, having the street closed and being able to utilize more space would be super helpful," said Laura Gentry, owner of Tripelroot on Main. "It would give people a new experience, and they would want to come to downtown Zeeland." 

A survey of downtown business owners found 63% favored closing main, but many noted they would not take advantage yet, Klunder said. 

"They just didn't need the space, or they didn't have the capacity right now to utilize it," he said. 

RELATED: Muskegon allowing businesses to utilize streets, sidewalks during restricted occupancy

Business dries up whenever Main Avenue closes, said Alex Clement, front-of-house manager at Public restaurant near city hall.  

"Cities like Holland can definitely get away with that way easier since there is a grid system, but here we're pretty much a straight line right through," Clement said. "I think Zeeland might be too small for it." 

The concept could work for a short-term event, said Carolyn Raar, owner of The Porch home decor shop a few doors from Public. 

"To do it for any [long] period of time would impact us because we have such limited parking," Raar said. "A limited event would be advantageous to us because we have a lot of stock in the store that we can't fit."

Downtown businesses are able to request setting up additional seating on the sidewalks. The city recently amended a licensing agreement for that to include parking spaces on Main. 

The city will try out the closure on a limited basis this summer, Klunder said. 

"We'll stay in contact with our downtown merchants, and I think that will drive how many times we close the street on specific dates," he said. "It would be primarily weekends, I think, that we would be looking at." 

In Ottawa County 949 people have contracted COVID-19 as of June 17, according to the department of public health. Fifty-one people from the area have died from the virus.

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