Thornton Restaurants – Expand Your Dining Space!

In order to facilitate the reopening of dining areas for on-premise consumption of food and drinks, the City of Thornton is currently allowing restaurants to temporarily use outdoor space for dining. This means you may be eligible to expand your dining space into adjacent areas of your property – such as the parking lot or sidewalks – to allow customers to dine on-site while maintaining social distancing requirements and complying with the emergency orders and guidelines from the State of Colorado and the City of Thornton. (See Thornton’s Emergency Regulation No. 4).

If your restaurant does NOT have a liquor license:

1. You are not required to submit any information or permits in order to implement temporary outdoor dining.
2. The area utilized for temporary outdoor dining must be appropriately controlled and monitored, and allow for emergency vehicle access, pedestrian access, and ADA-compliant access.
3. Tent or canopy permit requests must be submitted to the Building Inspection Division and Fire Department for tents greater than 400 square feet and canopies greater than 700 square feet in size, which are proposed to be utilized with temporary outdoor dining.

If your restaurant DOES have a liquor license:

How to apply:

1. Fill out the application HERE.
2. Include plans and drawings.
3. Plans submitted must provide for a site that can be appropriately controlled and monitored, and allows for emergency vehicle access, pedestrian access, and ADA-compliant access, among other requirements.
4. Permit requests must be submitted to the Building Inspection Division and Fire Department for tents greater than 400 square feet and canopies greater than 700 square feet in size, which are proposed to be utilized with the Temporary Modification of Liquor Licensed Premises.
5. Submit your application and associated required documents by email to clerk@thorntonCO.gov.

Please contact the Tri-County Health Department (TCHD) Plan Review Hotline at 303-846-6230, or email planreview@tchd.org (tchd.org no longer functional – contact Adams County Health Dept.) for further guidance regarding determination of the necessity for plan review from TCHD or visit the Thornton City Clerk’s web page for more information.