Relaxed rules recommended for city patios

‘Complete overhaul’ could pave way for micro-patios, year-round availability

Lower fees, generous space for pedestrians and permission to stay open year-round are among the sweeping changes approved Wednesday by the transportation committee to rules governing Ottawa’s sidewalk patios.

The committee also voted to make streetside spots a permanent fixture to the city’s urban fabric, paving the way for the possibility of more micro-patios replacing onstreet parking spaces.

“This is a complete overhaul of how we do things,” said Coun. Keith Egli, the committee’s chairman after the passage of the new right-ofway patio bylaw. Council will have the final say March 8.

New patios would be required to leave a full two metres of unencumbered sidewalk space for pedestrians and ensure any raised platform is accessible.

Existing patios seeking a renewal won’t have to comply with the new rules until March 2018.

While the Preston Street and ByWard Market business improvement areas mostly cheered the new bylaw, both called for existing patios that don’t meet the accessibility or clearance requirements to be grandfathered permanently.

Some businesses pay more than $10,000 to build aesthetically-pleasing patio structures and increasing the necessary sidewalk clearance to two metres might require them to shave off existing space, said Jasna Jennings from the ByWard Market BIA.

If his patio isn’t permanently grandfathered, Pub Italia owner Joe Cotroneo told the committee he’d had have to scale back his Preston Street patio by half to ensure there’s a two-metre clearance, in part because the city, after approving his patio, later installed trees and street furniture on the adjacent sidewalk.

Egli said these are the kind of issues staff hope to address before the start of 2018’s patio season. “We’ve got a year. We’re prepared to roll up our sleeves to resolve these issues.”

There’s also a curious disconnect around accessibility faced by restaurants in older or heritage buildings. Patios installed on public property, such as sidewalks, must comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, even if the restaurant itself is not fully accessible.

The city will work to encourage voluntary compliance, said Court Curry, manager of right of way, heritage and urban design services. Only nine of 87 existing patios won’t meet the pedestrian clearance standard this year.

Patios would be allowed to stay open all year long, with the summer season lasting from April 1 to October 31. The fee structure would change from a daily to monthly rate, and permit holders could expect up to a 22 per cent drop in monthly fees in the summer months.

The monthly winter fee would be lower in recognition that some businesses might just wish to use the space to store their patio components. Public works has been asked keep an eye on whether patios are impeding snow-clearing.

Audio speakers on patios would be allowed, but they have to be turned of by 11 p.m. nightly and the patio itself would have to close to patrons if it’s within 30 metres of any property zoned residential.

Enforcing this may create more work for the bylaw department, so the committee voted that up to $18,000 of the 2017 patio permit revenue be used to augment increased enforcement.

Most of the sidewalk patios are in Coun. Mathieu Fleury’s RideauVanier ward.

He said the new bylaw “strikes the balance where we want to go as a city, while recognizing that patios are important.”