Question for the crowd while I wait on hold. I paid for a temporary food service establishment permit through the city for a one-day block fair up on 110th. The whole thing got wiped out by the storm before we even set up tables.

311 has given me three different answers: one person said no refund, one said email the permit portal, one said the organizer can move the date and I can request a transfer. The fee wasn't nothing, and I don't want to just eat it if there's a one-time rain-date rule.

Anybody actually gotten a city permit fee rolled to a make-up date after a weather cancellation, or did you have to reapply and pay again?

Wait, this is the first time I'm hearing you might need your own permit if you're just selling at a street fair. I'm doing a small pop-up at a night market in Fordham next month and the organizer told me not to worry about the city stuff because the event covers it. Did you have to get the permit yourself because your fair didn't have a sponsor, or is it because you're doing food? I'm only doing packaged snacks, so now I'm nervous.

A lot depends on which agency actually took your money. The usual split is:

• DOHMH temporary food service establishment permit — this is the one for a specific event and menu, and once it's issued the fee is generally nonrefundable. They will sometimes approve a one-time date change if the organizer writes to confirm the new date, location, and that the same food setup is still accurate.
• DCWP temporary vendor permit or general vendor license — if you paid this one, you may have a stronger argument because a one-day nonprofit fair often doesn't require each vendor to hold a general vendor license. Some organizers are covered by a single event permit.

I've gone through this three times for a church market in Washington Heights. One year the event was cancelled after the permit was issued, and we did not get the fee back. We did get the permit envelope marked for a rescheduled date the following month because the organizer sent the request within a few days and the same inspector hadn't visited yet.

If 311 can't tell you which agency, look at the receipt header or the payment line. Then use the city's online permit portal to send a message in writing. Phone calls won't help if you later need to dispute it.

Adding to oldyork_otis: the biggest mistake I see from first-time vendors is paying for a general vendor license when you're only doing one fair. If your receipt says DCWP, you might want to request cancellation separately and use the organizer's event permit as your proof. If it says DOHMH, you're more in the 'transfer or eat it' camp.

One thing that matters: what were you selling? Packaged snacks that are still factory-sealed are sometimes handled under cottage food or just the organizer's umbrella, especially if there's no open food handling. If you were doing hot food or anything needing a handwashing setup, that's the temporary food service permit and the city is stricter about the fee.

For the make-up date, get the organizer to put the new date in writing, then send one email to the permit office with the old application number, the new event date, and a line saying the menu and booth dimensions haven't changed. Don't wait for 311 to resolve it.

One more practical point: treat this like any other flat city fee with a possible true-up. The agency doesn't care that you lost the day unless you give them a narrow, documented reason to transfer the service.

There's a related discussion from last month about Con Ed budget billing and whether the flat amount is worth the year-end surprise: Con Ed budget billing in a prewar one-bedroom: is the flat amount worth the true-up?. Different utility, same basic lesson—before I pay something that looks like a flat fee, I ask what the actual refund or credit language says in the fine print.

For this permit, that means pull the original application form and look for the word 'cancellation' vs 'postponement'. If postponement is listed, use the word postponement, not cancellation, in your message. A cancellation often closes the record. A postponement keeps it alive for the new date.

Thanks, oldyork_otis and astoria_arch. I checked the receipt and it's DOHMH, not DCWP. That pretty much kills the refund idea, but I'm going to try the postponement route. Spent twenty minutes on hold just to be told to email the same address on the form.

My organizer is saying they can't confirm the new date until the city issues a new street closure permit, so we're stuck in a circle. I'll send the request anyway and attach the old approval. Worst case, I'm out the fee and they can call it a donation to the rain gods.

Okay, this thread saved me from a bad assumption. I thought 'event covers it' meant every single permit, including food. I asked my organizer and they said my packaged snacks are fine under their insurance, but no open flame or on-site prep. Is the fire thing a whole separate FDNY permit? I only have an electric kettle in my plan, so probably no griddle. Thanks oldyork_otis and astoria_arch for the agency breakdown.

bronx_newbie, yes—open flame or anything with a propane burner is usually when the organizer starts mentioning fire safety. An electric kettle is much simpler. If your organizer says no open flame, you probably don't need your own FDNY permit, but confirm they have a site plan on file with the local firehouse if the night market asks for one.

Back to the original question for EastHarlem_E: when you email the permit office, include the old permit number, the expected make-up date, and the organizer's contact. If the date isn't confirmed yet, say 'requesting postponement; new date to follow from organizer once street closure is reissued'. That phrasing sometimes gets you a conditional hold instead of an immediate closed record.

This is not the kind of fee they chase you to refund, so you have to be the squeaky wheel.