Lisbon City Hall will continue to exempt esplanades from fees, but parish councils can claim the parking spaces back. Carla Madeira (PS), President of the Misericórdia Council, says that these places are important to "support the resident families" of the city.
The terraces of cafes, restaurants and bars that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the city of Lisbon saw appearing in parking spaces will be able to stay for another year - until the end of this 2023 - without the respective merchants having to financially compensate EMEL for the occupation of these spaces, as would normally happen. The decision had been approved by a majority in the City Council meeting and passed, this week, through the hand of the members of the Municipal Assembly.
It was Carla Madeira, socialist deputy and President of the Misericórdia Parish Council who presented her party's position in the Assembly: "The PS does not understand, at the present time, the pertinence of this measure of giving up parking spaces and, on top of that, exempting fees." For the socialist, "the city has returned to normality, the restaurants are full again" e, "in the face of the parking deficit for residents, it has become imperative to return those parking spaces to families. Many residents in the city are demanding just that".
In the mid-2020s, the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic on the crowding of indoor spaces led cities in different parts of the world to encourage the installation of terraces on parking spaces, extending their commercial areas into the public space. Since then, some esplanades have become parking spaces again and others have remained as such. Last year, the Arroios Borough Council tried to reverse the measurebut eventually backed out.
However, it is the Parish Councils that have had and still have the first word with regard to the conversion of parking spaces into esplanade spaces. "Each parish made the evaluation of this measure and decided to apply it or not. There were councils that decided to apply it and others that didn't".as Carla Madeira reminded us. But for the Mayor of Misericórdia, one of the parishes that authorized, in the pandemic context, the installation of new esplanades, it is now time for the city "support resident families, and that includes improving their quality of life and their living conditions"by recovering the lost parking spaces.
The Liberal Initiative was also against the prolongation of the exceptional regime, recalling its "exceptional and temporary nature". "Today we consider that the measure no longer makes sense because, in practice, it is an incentive for the loss of parking spaces"said Rodrigo Mello Gonçalves, adding that "parking is a scarce commodity in the city". In March 2022, there were at least 365 terraces This number may have been higher in the past, since some establishments have deactivated their esplanades. Of these 365 esplanades, 68 were in the parish of Arroios, 51 in Santo António and 31 in Penha de França. The Misericórdia parish has authorized 13 terraces in parking spaces and another 203 in pedestrian spaces since the beginning of the pandemic.
Only the parishes of Campo de Ourique, Carnide, Parque das Nações and Santa Clara did not have authorized terraces under the municipal program. Traders benefited from financial support for the purchase of terrace furniture - with the municipality contributing up to 50% - and also from exemptions from public space occupation taxes, a benefit launched in 2020, and extended by the end of 2021, then by the end of 2022.
Exemptions continue, but continuation of esplanades depends on the Councils
The measure now approved in the City Council meeting and in the Municipal Assembly does not guarantee the maintenance of the currently existing esplanades, nor does it encourage the creation of new spaces of this kind in parking spaces. It only extends the exemption from fees until the end of the year, with the justification now that it is a measure to support trade in the context of "inflationary crisis" and the "war in Eastern Europe"as Diogo Moura, Alderman of Economy, explained to the municipal deputies.
"To approve and propose to the Lisbon City Council for approval, the temporary suspension from January 1 to December 31, 2023, of the application of the provisions of Article 48(2) of the General Regulation for Parking and Stopping in the Streets of the Municipality of Lisbonwhich determines the payment of an amount as compensation for the occupation of a parking space, when a license is requested for the installation of a terrace or exhibition, with the prior agreement of the Parish Councils (...)".
- Proposal No. 820/2022
The responsible councilor clarified that "the first decision lies with the Parish Councils"They can still decide whether a certain parking space should remain a terrace space or be upgraded to a terrace. "The Board makes the request" e "then there is a second evaluation by the Municipal Mobility Directorate"which evaluates the allocation of that place to a terrace taking into account the "parking space ratio" in that area. But, if the Council gives a negative evaluation to a certain esplanade, "the Chamber is not even pronouncing itself". Therefore, according to Diogo Moura, "this balance" between the desires of merchants and residents, between the desire for esplanades and for parking spaces, "is done by the Mayors and the Municipal Mobility Department".
In other words, Parish Councils will be able to revert esplanades into parking spaces, but esplanades that remain in EMEL-managed spaces will still be able to remain in those spaces without the payment of fees.
In the City Council meeting in December, the extension of the exemptions was approved with the votes in favor of the councilmen of the New Times (PSD and CDS), PS, Livre, BE and Cidadãos Por Lisboa, and the PCP abstained. In the Municipal Assembly, this week, PS, PCP, PEV, Citizens For Lisbon, Alliance and Chega abstained, Liberal Initiative voted against, and PSD, CDS, BE, Livre, PAN, MPT and PPM voted in favor.
