This week's City Council meeting netted a decisive resolution to promote local business recovery.
As of May 6, the Council voted to immediately waive certain permits and regulations in order to clear the way for restaurants, retail and service-oriented businesses to use parking lots, commercial spaces and erect shade structures in order to help increase their customer traffic.
Helping protect Apopka's workforce, customers and the community at large, the Council's decision gives local business owners more tools and space to safely serve their guests and clients, and more quickly find their way back to stability in the midst of COVID-19.
Under Governor DeSantis' phase one reopening plan, restaurants with outdoor seating can reopen as long as there is 6 feet between tables and inside seating is limited to 25 percent capacity. Retail stores and service businesses have to do the same, limiting interior store capacity to 25 percent.
But as the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations (DBPR) Secretary Halsey Beshears said, cities do not need to follow a “one-size-fits-all approach” in complying with DeSantis’ order.
Tampa and Orlando took that to heart, and now Apopka joins too, finding creative ways to move forward better in phase one reopening.
Read full details of the Resolution here.