Gazebo gone but tables will be permitted outside at Carson City diner

After 16 months of a battle with city officials that ended with a court order to dismantle his gazebo, Doug Cramer, owner of Mom and Pop’s Diner, has a permit for outside seating.

He said he can’t get the gazebo back but has been granted an encroachment permit for outside seating — small tables with umbrellas for shade.

But Cramer said he won’t be setting them up anytime soon because winter is on its way. It may not happen until spring if the weather is bad for the next few months.

Cramer lost the fight over the gazebo and then was hauled back into court last week when he didn’t get the structure down fast enough. He said that was a misunderstanding on his part because he thought he had 30 days, not just 10 days.

“I have a new encroachment permit as of Wednesday of last week,” he said adding it permits him to have up to 15 tables outside on the Third Street McFadden Plaza.

He said he was denied a permit twice by the city but that city officials granted the permit for outside seating to his landlord.

“That’s how I ended up getting it.”

Cramer has argued he had an encroachment permit for the past 22 years but city officials argued it wasn’t valid after the Third Street Plaza was created during the downtown project in 2016.

Other businesses in the plaza already have outdoor seating, including Fox.

“To my customers over the last 16 months, they’ve been the most supportive group of people,” he said. “People come up to me saying they’re so sorry they took the gazebo away. It’s done. Move on.”

As for the gazebo, he said it’s in his backyard.