The FAVB demands to rethink the arrangement of the road terraces

The imminent modification of the Barcelona terrace ordinance to adapt it to the new models that emerged during the pandemic, which will be consolidated in the case of tables on driveways, has been replicated with a battery of allegations against by the Federation of Barcelona Neighborhood Associations (FAVB). The group rejects its location on chamfers and the alternation of models – on the road or sidewalk – on the same road, criticizes that the new document does not stop the growth of watchmen and regrets that these changes have not been more consensual, but made tailored to the “restaurant lobby”, they maintain.

At a press conference, the president of the federation, Ana Menéndez, he has complained that the city council has opted for a new modification instead of developing a new ordinance that allows real citizen participation. The entity has argued against the articles that are incorporated to give definitive continuity to the watchmen on the road (they believe that the procedure should be null), but also against other points that they reject from the general order and that they would like to reformulate. The new rules of the game are expected to be definitively approved in the last municipal plenary session of the year, for which they have started conversations with political groups.

In the first section, they ask that explicitly prohibit expanding the number of roadside terraces, beyond those authorized during the health crisis to make economic activity viable, which were 1,588 in parking lanes and traffic lanes. He assures that this measure was also adopted in other cities, but that now normality has returned, instead of consolidating that new quota. In Barcelona, ​​various prototypes have been authorized to improve their final design, instead of pivots and barriers. In his opinion, these should never exceed 20% of the entire section of a road.

More order and security

They oppose the model that in the same street alternates traditional terraces on the sidewalks, dotted with some on the road. Instead, they want them to be of one type or another depending on the roads, to offer a more orderly image of the roads and more safe for walkers.

Precisely, the person in charge of the FAVB terrace commission, Pere Mariné, He has opined that after the pandemic and in a city of only 101 km2, residents need more availability of public space. He has claimed that the squares and axes are not taken over by more than 20% of terraces, since “now 50% is allowed, but in cases like Plaza Reial it reaches 99%”. Among their requests is also the prohibition of stoves on terraces located on the road, because of their danger and because they are polluting, the group maintains. And they claim an acoustic report on the noises and annoyances that these can produce in neighboring buildings in the area.

For Menéndez, there are many other aspects that at this time should be changed in the local ordinance of terraces. Starting with the schedules, which after the pandemic they believe should be redirected in favor of the neighborhood rest. They defend the closure two hours before authorized, that is to say that the watchmen dismount at 22.00 hours weekdays and at 23.00 on weekends. Also that inspections are increased and sanctions are made effective with more agility, practically doubling the amount of the fines, so that the very serious ones were 5.000 euros, the serious ones of 3,000 and the minor ones of 1,500 euros.

The president of the federation understands that neighbors are also users, and that the terraces are a meeting point and dynamization, but they must be regulated “in balance” and prioritizing rights over economic interests.

In that sense, the spokesperson for SOS Enric Granados, Josep Maria Alcoberro, who represents neighbors opposed to the concentration of watchmen in his street, has lamented the model of “massification” that the city council continues to “expand”. “They promote policies that are contrary to neighborhood interests,” he says.

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During the pandemic, the council granted 3,668 extensions or new extraordinary licenses, to compensate for the closure or limitations inside the establishments. According to a study, the measure saved at least 1,875 jobs. The municipal objective with the ordinance is to maintain the new licenses in the case of the road, since they ‘steal’ space from the vehicle and not the pedestrian, but to study “case by case” the rest of the applications that are now presented to consolidate these new situations.