PATIO PROVISIONS,

Measure designed to give restaurants additional space for physical distancing

Edmonton is temporarily removing fees and development permits for patios, allowing restaurants and retail stores to increase customer capacity as COVID-19 restrictions ease.

With retail businesses permitted to reopen doors and restaurants given the green light to run at half-capacity starting Thursday, the city is moving quickly to provide more space for them to operate.

This could include the option to branch out onto sidewalks, the adjoining street or parking lots.

“Effective May 19 and up until the end of the year, rules around patio expansion are relaxed. This will support businesses in increasing maximum capacity in safe ways and will add to the vibrancy of our city this summer,” interim city manager Adam Laughlin said during city council’s emergency advisory meeting Wednesday afternoon.

“In order to nimbly assist our retail businesses with the patio expansion, we will allow businesses to fill out a simple one-page online form for a development permit exemption.”

Outdoor patios usually require a permit fee of $375 while sidewalk cafes, which are patios on main streets like Whyte Avenue that extend in front of the building, cost $528 for a five-year term.

What these expanded patios will look like is still up in the air and vary based on location.

Laughlin said business improvement areas will do the brunt of planning for what works in their specific neighbourhoods.

Old Strathcona Business Association executive director Cherie Klassen said she hopes this could mean vehicle lane reductions on Whyte Avenue to allow a lane of traffic to be used for pedestrian access, while restaurant or retail patios extend out across the sidewalk. Or a pop-up plaza in Dr. Wilbert Mcintyre Park off 104 Street filled with different restaurants and retail vendors to allow more room for patrons.

“It’s the perfect time to pilot narrowing down the roadway and provide more space for patios and people so everybody feels safer coming back to the retail district,” she said after the city’s announcement. “In creating more space for people, we can be very creative.”

The option to quickly build a new patio or expand an existing one will allow restaurants to provide more space to customers, needing to operate at 50 per cent capacity under the provincial rules. Some planning to open can’t even reach 50 per cent capacity because the spacing needed to meet physical distancing requirements holds fewer people, Klassen said.

This is true for Julio’s Barrio on Whyte Avenue, which is planning to open Friday with slightly less than 50-per-cent capacity. General manager Rob Ferguson said he would welcome the idea of expanding the patio, which has currently been set up with five tables rather than the typical 11 to increase spacing.

“I love the idea. I wish that would happen in a regular summer,” he said. “We wouldn’t want to rush more capacity if it means social distancing can’t still be properly attained.”

The city will work with businesses to determine what works best and how the changes will impact traffic flow before making any decisions.

RELAUNCH DECISIONS UPCOMING

Meanwhile, Edmonton’s three closed fenced off-leash dog parks will reopen to the public Saturday. Alex Decoteau Park, the smallest of the parks, will have a maximum occupancy of 15 people.

Further decisions are expected next Thursday on the possible launch of e-scooters, opening of the Edmonton Valley Zoo and other city facilities, as well as options for summer camps.

As part of the economy prepares to reopen Thursday, Mayor Don Iveson is asking Edmontonians to be cautious when venturing out and continue to follow health orders.

“Let us not erase our hardfought gains against this virus by being reckless in any way with the health and safety of ourselves or others,” he said. “This reopening is a very fragile time and we need to be careful so we do not upend our reopening and our economy means nothing without our health.”