This Cape Coral ordinance is for the dogs.
City Council voted Monday to allow local restaurants to permit dogs into their outdoor areas, but with a catch: The restaurant owner must pay a $75 annual permit fee to the city and provide hand sanitizers at the tables where dogs may be guests.
In the past, many Cape restaurants, such as The Dog, The Joint at Cape Harbour, the Monkey Bar & Steakhouse, have permitted dogs into their outdoor areas.
Now, restaurants must have the new permit. Without it, they face fines.
But City Attorney Dolores Menendez said restaurants were in violation anyway prior to Monday because the city did not have an ordinance in place that allowed outside dining with dogs.
?Theoretically, they should not have been doing it,? Menendez said. ?The city had to pass an ordinance. This was our attempt to provide an option for a restaurant.?
But restaurants do not have to let dogs into the outside areas. It is their call, stresses councilman Kevin McGrail.
?The final arbiter in all this is the owner,? he said. ?We wanted restaurants to get the permit that tells everyone that their establishment allows dogs.?
The application requires specific information about where dogs will be allowed and when. The fee covers processing and renewal costs.
There will be a $500 fine for restaurants who allow dogs but do not have the permit.
Dogs, unless they?re are approved as guide animals, are not allowed inside restaurants.
Two restaurant owners disagree with the fee.
?We used to be able to get the dogs inside, but the health department told us we couldn?t,? said Claudia Garcia, owner of the Monkey Bar Steakhouse. ?Everything is money. What is a dog to do?
?But I?m glad that they passed the law and we can get the pets back.?
Bob Mulroy, managing partner at The Joint, said the fee is a ?tax on the business owners,? and City Council ?just trying to generate more revenue.?
Mulroy added: ?We welcome the idea of bringing your pet out for a day out. A dog is a part of the family and it should be treated as such.?
