Restaurants scramble to take it outside
The city is getting a spike in patio permit requests due to another round of COVID restrictions
They City of Medicine Hat has been receiving a number of patio permit requests as restaurants prepare to stay open during the latest round of restrictions — as of last Friday, the province is prohibiting indoor dining.
The city has had about 20 inquiries from restaurants regarding patios and has already approved nine since Friday. A couple more are in the queue awaiting approval, says Erin Onoferychuk, superintendent of implementation for planning and development services.
“There are some restaurants putting patios on the sidewalk in front of their building, there are some businesses downtown that are putting patios on the road as we’ve seen in previous years and some that are taking up a couple parking stalls in their parking lot to accommodate the patio, so that’s something we can approve,” said Onoferychuk.
She says the city has been expediting application approvals and is trying its best to accommodate the restaurant industry during these hard times. Onoferychuk adds the city is also removing fees for patios right now due to COVID-19.
The Silver Buckle added 12 tables in its parking lot as part of an extended patio, which was approved April 9 — two days after the owner submitted the application.
“As soon as the announcement was made on Tuesday, Tuesday evening I started putting proposals and packages together so I could apply for the necessary licences on Wednesday morning,” said Devon Potvin. “... Everyone was really accommodating and understanding of some of the challenges that we’ve had to go through and it really helped out with the speed of their approvals.”
Potvin says throughout the last 13 months they’ve been closed for four and heavily restricted for the other nine. He says his staff is another reason it is important to remain open, even if it’s outdoor dining only.
“A business owner closing their doors does not just close down his hopes and dreams, it closes it for all of their staff as well,” he said. “So, being able to open up the patio kind of gives us a chance to maybe pay some bills and keep some staff working.”
The Silver Buckle has followed every restriction during the pandemic and Potvin says they will continue to do so.
Station Coffee Co. is another business that was approved for their patio to open.
“Having a place for people to be able to come and sit and have coffee makes a huge difference in how many people come,” said Jeremy Knodel, one of the coffee shop’s owners. “As soon as dine-in is cancelled, then we know that’s a huge decrease in customers. So, this at least kind of balances it out a little bit even though numbers are still way down.
Knodel says the weather hasn’t been the greatest the first few days the patio has been open, but there were about 10 people drinking coffee outside the shop on Tuesday afternoon and he expects more people to stop by as the weather warms up.
“It adds a little bit of a cafe experience in the midst of the unfortunate restrictions. So it’s much appreciated to be able to have some seating,” he says.
Onoferychuk says any restaurant that wants to inquire about a patio permit can call planning and development services at 403-529-8374.