§ 6.11.35. Eating Establishment

A.

M District

Within the M District, the following standards shall be met:

1.

If the use is to be located within a building housing other uses, this use, plus any other use allowed in the district pursuant to 6.11.65, except Child Care Facilities, shall not occupy more than 25 percent of the building square footage. The remainder of the building shall be used for uses permitted in the district or a Child Care Facility.

2.

If the use is to be freestanding or within a building with less than 75 percent of the square footage occupied by permitted uses, the following locational requirements shall be met:

a.

The use shall be located either within a commercial node at the intersection of existing streets shown on the current MPO Long Range Transportation Cost Affordable Plan in effect at the time of the application or internally within the project.

b.

The nodes shall be separated from other nodes of similar convenience retail activity by no less than 2,500 feet, as measured along the shortest distance between property lines without regard to route of normal travel.

c.

The maximum gross building square footage of the eating establishment portion of each project shall be limited to 30,000 square feet.

d.

If located internally, the uses shall have limited visibility from adjacent streets or surrounding properties and shall have limited access to adjacent streets outside of the district.

B.

Drive-Through Service

Eating establishments providing drive-through service wherein a patron is served through a window or other device while remaining in a motor vehicle shall meet the following criteria:

1.

No order box used in the ordering of food or beverages from a drive-through window shall be located within 200 feet of any property zoned residential.

2.

A solid screening fence or wall, a minimum of six feet in height, shall be required to be placed between any property used for a drive-through facility and any abutting property zoned residential. The intent of this solid screening is to screen vehicular headlight glare from adjacent residential property.

3.

Adequate automobile stacking space will be provided from the order box to ensure that any public right-of-way or common vehicular use area will not be blocked by or utilized for vehicular stacking.

C.

Dog-Friendly Restaurants

Section 509.233, Florida Statutes, grants local governments the authority to establish a local exemption procedure to certain provisions of the Food and Drug Administration Food Code, as currently adopted by the Florida Division of Hotels and Restaurants of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, in order to allow patrons' dogs within certain designated outdoor portions of public food service establishments. The procedure contained in this subsection provides permitting criteria to allow public food service establishments that meet the definitions of "Eating Establishment" in Chapter 12.01.00 of this Code to receive such an exemption. This section provides an exemption only from those portions of the currently adopted Food and Drug Administration Food Code in order to allow patrons' dogs within certain designated outdoor portions of Eating Establishments. No dog shall be in an Eating Establishment unless allowed by state law and the Eating Establishment has been issued and maintains an unexpired permit pursuant to this section allowing dogs in designated outdoor areas of the establishment. It shall be a violation of state law for Eating Establishments to allow dogs on their premises without first obtaining a permit pursuant to this section.

1.

Supplemental Requirements: Applicants may request a permit for a Dog Friendly Restaurant in accordance with Section 10.01.00 of this Code. In addition to the required information for conditional uses listed in the Development Review Procedures Manual, applications shall include the following information:

a.

Name, location, mailing address, and Division of Hotels and Restaurants-issued license number of the Eating Establishment.

b.

Name, mailing address, and telephone contact information of the permit applicant. The name, mailing address, and telephone contact information of the owner of the Eating Establishment shall be provided if the owner is not the permit applicant.

c.

A diagram and description of the outdoor area to be designated as available to patrons' dogs, including dimensions of the designated area; a depiction of the number and placement of tables, chairs and restaurant equipment, if any; the entryways and exits to the designated outdoor area; the boundaries of the designated area and of the other outdoor dining areas not available for patrons' dogs; any fences or other barriers; surrounding property lines and public rights-of-way, including sidewalks and common pathways; and such other information as is reasonably deemed necessary by the Administrator. The diagram shall be accurate and to scale but need not be prepared by a licensed design professional. A copy of the approved diagram shall be attached to the permit.

d.

A description of the days of the week and hours of operation that patrons' dogs will be permitted in the designated outdoor area.

2.

Eating Establishments that receive a permit for a designated outdoor area pursuant to this section shall require that:

a.

Employees shall wash their hands promptly after touching, petting, or otherwise handling any dog, and shall wash their hands before entering other parts of the Eating Establishment from the designated outdoor area.

b.

Employees are prohibited from touching, petting, or otherwise handling any dog while serving or carrying food or beverages or while handling or carrying tableware.

c.

Patrons in a designated outdoor area shall be advised by appropriate signage, at conspicuous locations, that they should wash their hands before eating. Waterless hand sanitizer shall be provided at all tables in the designated outdoor area.

d.

Patrons shall not leave their dogs unattended for any period of time. Patrons shall keep their dogs on a leash at all times and shall keep their dogs under reasonable control.

e.

Employees and patrons shall not allow dogs to come into contact with serving dishes, utensils, tableware, linens, paper products, or any other items involved with food service operations. Patrons shall be advised of this requirement by appropriate signage at conspicuous locations.

f.

Employees and patrons shall not allow any part of a dog to be on chairs, tables, or other furnishings.

g.

Between the seating of patrons, employees shall clean and sanitize all table and chair surfaces with a product registered and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for use on food-contact surfaces.

h.

Employees shall remove all dropped food and spilled drink from the floor or ground as soon as possible, but in no event less frequently than between seating of patrons at the nearest table.

i.

Employees and patrons shall remove all dog waste immediately and the floor or ground shall be immediately cleaned and sanitized with a product registered approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for use on food-contact surfaces. The Eating Establishment shall keep a kit with the appropriate materials for this purpose near the designated outdoor area. Dog waste shall not be carried in or through indoor portions of the Eating Establishment.

j.

Ingress and egress to the designated outdoor area shall not require entrance into or passage through any indoor area or nondesignated outdoor portions of the Eating Establishment. Employees and patrons shall not permit dogs to be in, or to travel through, indoor or nondesignated outdoor portions of the Eating Establishment.

k.

A sign or signs notifying the public that the designated outdoor area is available for the use of patrons and patrons' dogs shall be posted in a conspicuous manner and place.

l.

A sign or signs informing patrons and employees of these laws shall be posted on premises in a conspicuous manner and place.

m.

The Eating Establishment and designated outdoor area shall comply with all permit conditions and the approved diagram.

n.

Employees and patrons shall not allow any dog to be in the designated outdoor areas of the Eating Establishment if the Eating Establishment is in violation of any of the requirements of this section.

o.

Permits shall be conspicuously displayed in the designated outdoor area.

3.

Violations: It shall be unlawful to fail to comply with any of the requirements of this section. Each failure to comply with the requirements of this section shall constitute a separate violation.

4.

Expiration and Revocation: A permit issued pursuant to this section shall expire automatically upon the sale of the Eating Establishment and cannot be transferred to a subsequent owner. The subsequent owner may apply for a permit pursuant to this section if the subsequent owner wishes to continue to allow patrons' dogs in a designated outdoor area of the Eating Establishment.

a.

A permit may be revoked by the Administrator if, after notice, the Eating Establishment fails to comply with any condition of approval, fails to comply with the approved diagram, fails to maintain any required state or local license, or is found to be in violation of any provision of this section. If the reason for revocation is a failure to maintain any required state or local license, the revocation may take effect immediately upon giving notice of revocation to the permit holder.

b.

If an Eating Establishment's permit is revoked, no new permit may be approved for the establishment until the expiration of 180 days following the date of revocation.

5.

Complaints and Reporting: Complaints may be made in writing to the Administrator. The Administrator shall timely accept, document, and respond to all complaints. The Administrator shall timely report to the Division of Hotels and Restaurants all complaints and the response to such complaints. Any dog bites that occur must be reported to Florida Department of Health - Hillsborough County.

The Administrator shall provide the Division of Hotels and Restaurants with a copy of all approved applications and permits issued.

All permits shall contain the Division of Hotels and Restaurants-issued license number for the Eating Establishment.

(Ord. No. 01-30, § 2, 11-15-01; Ord. No. 02-13, § 2, 8-1-02; Ord. No. 03-9, § 2, 6-5-03; Ord. No. 15-15, § 2(Exh. A), Item A.4(15-0497), 6-18-15, eff. 6-25-15)