SEATTLE — Sidewalk dining, a popular pastime in Seattle, is now the subject of a fight in Madison Park.
The Ethan Stowell restaurant group has been using a small parcel of land for outdoor dining which some neighbors said is not the intended use of that space.
The public space, known as Triangle Park, is at the intersection of 42nd Avenue and East Madison Street, adjacent to Stowell’s restaurant How to Cook a Wolf.
“A couple times, I’ve gotten a sandwich and hike down here and sit down and eat it,” Barbara Marilley told KOMO News, just after enjoying her lunch in the shade of a structure in Triangle Park.
She’s among those who do not believe the restaurant should be entitled to use this space for its customers.
“I think it should be left alone,” said Fred Andrews, who owns Madison Cellars.
Triangle Park is not actually a park — the property was donated to the community by the McNae family but it had fallen into disrepair.
“When we moved in How to Cook a Wolf there was constant trash overflowing. The gardens were all rotted out and the benches were all rotted out and there was actually a bunch of needles,” Stowell said.
The restaurateur said they spend several thousand dollars every month maintaining Triangle Park and he’d like to continue using it for outdoor dining at ‘How to Cook a Wolf.
“I think it’s good for the neighborhood. I think it’s good for adjacent businesses,” Anne Marie Koehler said.
“Anybody can use it whenever they want and then we’ll take it over as a restaurant café at night,” said Stowell.
But another Madison Park neighbor told KOMO News that the restaurant is open seven days a week, including brunch on weekends, which is when others may like to use that space.
“I’ve never seen anyone be kicked out of the space. I was there for dinner on Saturday night and there was a couple next to us that wasn’t dining, but they were sitting on the benches and enjoying their conversation and they didn’t get asked to leave and more embraced to be there,” Koehler said.
The permit process has gone back and forth for several years, with the Seattle Department of Transportation.
Those against this use of the land argue that that public plaza is a community gathering place, originally gifted to the Madison Park community.
Stowell’s restaurant group applied for a permit to make the space a permanent outdoor dining space about three years ago, but the permitting process is still incomplete.
The comment period for this permit just ended on Tuesday. Neighbors created a website, asking others to write in opposition to the permit being granted, to keep the park a public space.
City records showed several violations against the restaurant group’s use of the space. The city issued two separate violations — in September 2021 and December 2021 — for an unpermitted cafe with a weather protection structure constructed without a permit in a public plaza.
Then, in 2023, the city cited the restaurant group for installing the structure without a permit and then applying for a permit, which was approved for less area than they had already installed.
“There hasn’t been anything like nefarious done, you know. We built something bigger than the permit was approved for? I don’t know. Are we talking by 40 feet? Are we talking four inches? I don’t know. I can’t comment on that we need to make sure the structure is built compliant then obviously will do that,” Stowell said.
The back and forth between Ethan Stowell Restaurants and the city continued in April and May of this year, when the city cited the group for being “unresponsive to required corrections for cafe with structure permit application.”
“Sidewalk cafés are under SDOT and I think we just let them tell us what we can and can’t use it if we can’t use it that’s OK by us,” Stowell said.
The city told KOMO News that they plan to rule on the permit by the end of August.
“My personal opinion is we have a system that works well for the community and we have a system that works well for someone to maintain the park and it would be disappointing to see that go away,” Stowell said.
Stowell said he would abide by whatever ruling comes from the city.
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