Norwich ― The restaurant at the Marina at American Wharf for decades has offered scenic waterfront views and atmosphere in the summer, but has been forced to go dark when wintry weather hits.

A plan in the works by marina owners Patrick and Brittany Dwyer and city officials would allow the restaurant and bar to remain open for much later into the fall and earlier in the spring, although not fully year-round.

The City Council on Monday will consider a resolution to redirect $250,000 from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act grant to help fund a proposed $350,000 rehabilitation of the restaurant to install a removable enclosure that would encompass the rear deck portion of the outdoor seating, the detached kitchen building and customer restrooms during colder weather months.

The plan would make the building more attractive to a restaurateur tenant and would attract more visitors to the marina, said Kevin Brown, president of the Norwich Community Development Corp.

The Dwyers purchased the Marina at American Wharf a year ago this month and have been renovating the facility since then with infrastructure, landscaping, painting and cosmetic improvements. The city obtained a $2 million waterfront improvement grant to install new boat fuel tanks to the city-owned property.

Patrick Dwyer said Thursday they have worked on concepts for improving the restaurant space for months but were hampered because the facility is in a flood zone.

“To make it a true four-season building would involve all kinds of building code implications and would be cost prohibitive,” Dwyer said. “This is going to be a nice stopgap. If everything goes well, it will fill the gap very well and allow people to enjoy the place most of the year.”

The Dwyers initially had hoped to bring in a restaurateur by this fall, but Patrick Dwyer said the pending renovations delayed the plan. He now hopes if the enclosure receives city permits, the restaurant could open by early spring.

City Planner Dan Daniska said the project needs a special permit because of the flood zone. The city planning and building departments have been consulted along the way, but he has not yet received an application for the project.

City Manager John Salomone first proposed redirecting a portion of the ARPA grant to the project in August, but the funding move was delayed as the marina owners and city building inspectors explored the feasibility of enclosing the restaurant.

The council now is scheduled to vote on the changes at its 7:30 p.m. meeting Monday.

Salomone proposed reducing a grant to the city Police Department for staffing and reducing gun violence by $127,622. A grant to the Human Services Department for COVID-19 recovery staffing and a case worker would be reduced by $100,000. The remaining money would come from small amounts that remained from grants to projects completed under budget, such as $17,936 from the Recreation Department summer camp program.

Kate Milde, director of Human Services, said ARPA funding has paid for full-time caseworkers in the Adult & Family Division for the past three years to help administer the large amounts of financial aid for people affected by the pandemic. Starting in January, the full-time triage worker will be paid using the city’s opioid settlement grant and a full-time caseworker will be funded in the department’s annual budget through June 30.

A contracted case worker funded through ARPA will stay until the ARPA grant runs out Dec. 31, Milde said.

Police Chief Patrick Daley said the department has had difficulty filling all the ARPA-funded positions and will continue the department’s violence prevention programs using other funding as much as possible.

All the city’s $28 million in American Rescue Plan Act grant funding must be allocated by Dec. 31.

c.bessette@theday.com