City Council Extends K-Rail Barrier Rentals to Protect Outdoor Diners

The City Council on Monday voted unanimously to further protect both outdoor diners and local restaurants by extending K-rail barrier rentals through June. 18.

The Department of Transportation will extend its purchase order with Signal Hill-based Ellis Equipment, Inc. by six more months, to increase the rental amount to $375,908 from the previous $75,908, is likely to be passed by the council at its meeting Monday.

Ellis Equipment, Inc. supplies the K-rail concrete barriers now installed to protect outdoor dining areas along Colorado Boulevard in Playhouse Village and Old Pasadena. 

A total of 48 businesses that offer outdoor dining while observing social distancing protocols benefitted from the project, which is now in its fourth deployment.

Restaurants were recently forced by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to close all operations except for delivery and take-out services in response to a county order issued due to a dramatic rise in COVID-related infections and deaths. When that happened, restaurants in Pasadena, which has its own Health Department and is not required to follow county orders, were the only dining businesses in the county legally operating outdoors. However, local officials were forced to shutter eateries in Pasadena, which must follow state public health orders, after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a new stay-at-home order. 

“To date, the city has paid $102,344 in costs associated with the rental of the concrete K-rails for the on-street dining program. This cost includes mobilization costs incurred with each deployment,” according to a city staff report. “With new on-street deployments still anticipated in the coming months, staff estimates that rental costs from Ellis Equipment Inc. will average $25,969 per month from February 2021 to June 2021, which totals $129,845 in rental costs. It is anticipated that the total rental costs from initiation of the on-street dining program in July 2020 to June 2021 will total $232,189.”

Protective barriers were installed starting on July 11, when the city implemented its first phase of outdoor dining along Colorado Boulevard. This was after outdoor dining guidelines were issued and an online application process was implemented to make it easier for businesses to have protective barriers installed. 

On July 18, the second phase of the project was implemented after Ellis Equipment offered to supply the K-rails and a purchase order was approved. The third phase started on Aug. 8 which covers K-rail rentals up to Oct. 18. That was later extended until January.

The city is looking to purchase its own barriers to mitigate costs. 

The Department of Transportation is pursuing grant funds that would be used to purchase the barriers to allow for the on-street dining program to continue in perpetuity. The city submitted a grant application to the U.S. Economic Development Administration in October.

It is anticipated that selected applicants will receive an award letter for the grant award by the end of December.