SWAMPSCOTT — The town is extending the Humphrey Street sidewalk by eight feet to accommodate outdoor dining in front of three restaurants — G Bar and Kitchen, Little G Market, and Cafe Avellino.
Bob Dilisio, of masonry and excavation contractor R. Dilisio Company, was onsite with Joseph Faia & Sons Contracting Director Michael Faia and other workers setting granite on the soon-to-be sidewalk. He said he expects the granite will be set by Friday. The project, he said, will likely be completed in two weeks.
“We’re going to be working on preparing the back of it, getting into the sidewalk. We’re getting ready for concrete and should be done in a couple of weeks,” Dilisio said.
In 2021, Swampscott secured more than $300,000 in funding from the Commonwealth’s Shared Streets and Spaces Grant to repair and improve roadways, sidewalks and curbs. Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta said the sidewalk project was funded with $60,000 of the grant funds.
During the pandemic, the town blocked off the Humphrey Street outdoor dining areas with Jersey barriers extended four feet from the sidewalk. While the barriers served their purpose temporarily, Cresta said they don’t accommodate long-term parking plans.
“The bad part about the Jersey barriers is with them, you can’t open the passenger-side door at the curb. We’re going to allow the parking spaces to come out here,” Cresta said.
Ever since the town passed the Sales Tax on Meals in 2011, Swampscott collects 0.75 percent of all restaurant sales in town in tax revenue. Cresta said he expects the expanded outdoor seating to be good for restaurants and — through the meals tax — good for the town.
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said the project would help make the area safer for pedestrians and provide a boost for local businesses negatively impacted by the pandemic.
“We’ve lost a couple of small businesses in Swampscott during the pandemic, and it really is unfortunate because these are folks that put all their hopes and dreams into opening a business on Humphrey Street,” Fitzgerald said. “We want them to be as successful as possible, and having more seating opportunities is a terrific way to do that.”
Fitzgerald added that outdoor dining will bring a sense of life to the seaside street.
“There’s nothing quite as magical as coming down on a busy evening in the spring or summer, where folks are out just enjoying a meal or a glass of wine or a beer on that sidewalk,” he said. “It’s another way for people to enjoy this extraordinary town.”
Cresta said that the town plans to put an additional sidewalk extension for outdoor seating and pedestrian safety slightly north of the intersection of Humphrey and Redington Streets. He said any future sidewalk extensions would depend on the amount of funding left from the Shared Streets grant.
“If the businesses thrive, the town thrives,” Cresta said.
