Restaurant patio closed for not meeting plants requirement

Published 10:03 am Wednesday, June 17, 2015

MANKATO — A restaurant in downtown Mankato has had to increase the amount of foliage on its patio after lacking the city’s required amount of plants.

According to a press release, the front patio of Blue Bricks was shut down May 28 because it didn’t meet a requirement that 25 percent of it be covered with live plants. Mankato City Manager Pat Hentges said the rule was put into place last summer amid efforts to spruce up downtown.

Hentges said Blue Bricks and other businesses with patios on city-owned sidewalks were told earlier in the month that they had until May 25 to comply with plant requirements. He said closing the patio of Blue Bricks was “a harsh decision.”

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According to Hentges, the restaurant bought and installed “landscape material” and reopened the next day.