Patio Report Clears The Way
An example from the report of an expanded sidewalk cafe from Calgary made possible by a removable boardwalk occupying the parking pace.
I think we’re almost ready to be a big city. However, one of the things we still need to get right is patios: increasing opportunities to operate them, streamlining the rules for them, and working with the province to open up still more opportunities.
Today a report (and supplemental attachments) was released in answer to an inquiry initiated some months ago by Cllrs. Henderson, Diotte and me. The inquiry asked a number of questions aimed at identifying barriers (a bad thing) to patio proliferation (presumably a good thing).
The report outlines best practices in large Canadian cities and make several recommendations that will help – the only question is how quickly we can implement the changes. I will be pushing for next season. Some of the work needs help from the province around some (in my view) overly conservative liquor control measures.
The report will be discussed at the October 10th Executive Committee meeting if folks are interested in watching or presenting to the committee.
3 thoughts on “Patio Report Clears The Way”
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Thanks for spearheading this Don. The biggest barrier in my mind is our winter climate, but certainly anything the city can do with zoning and regulations to encourage more of them is encouraging. Cheers!
I watched with interest the Global report on your initiative. I live very close to the patio at ‘The Marquee’. I hasn’t been a favourable experience. They over serve their guests, play loud music late in to the night (early morning) and generally ignored the fact they’re located in a residential neighbourhood. Even when no one’s on the patio they blare the music. I assume to attract like minded partier’s off the street. I used to like living here. I agree, patio’s are a nice way to enjoy summer. Perhaps best kept to the commercial areas and not next door to residential neighbours. Believe me, you don’t want a neighbour like this living next door.