Patio music derailed by appeal
Plan was for bands to be playing by July
A legal appeal just pulled the plug on the city’s plans to allow music on patios outside local bars and restaurants this summer.
Council recently approved a twoyear pilot project to allow live and amplified music on restaurant patios in commercial districts across the city. Music over a certain decibel level, or played later at night, would still require a noise bylaw exemption.
But an appeal filed to the Ontario Municipal Board on behalf of several North End residents means you could see snow on local patios this year before live bands.
And that’s assuming the quasi-judicial body rules in favour of the city.
Tunes on the terrace were supposed to be legal by Canada Day for popular bar districts in and near the downtown, the west harbour, Dundas and Upper James Street. But it sometimes takes several months just to schedule an OMB hearing.
Coun. Jason Farr called the appeal a “disappointing” delay for a community marketing itself as a City of Music and creating “more vibrant” downtown and waterfront areas.
Hess Village bars and restaurants have been pleading for patio music for a long time, said Dean Collett, part of the ownership group for Koi Restaurant, Sizzle Steak House and Lounge next door.
“It’s been a constant frustration … I understand the need to be a good neighbour, but a sensible, reasonable bylaw should be able to work for everyone,” he said.
“You go to another large city and you can sit on a patio and listen to music. The (current ban) is nonsensical.”
The appeal from West Harbour Neighbours Inc. and several individual residents argues illegal patio music on city-owned lands has already “seriously disturbed” existing waterfront residents for the last four years.
It said legalizing patio music “will inevitably create a disturbance to neighbours” and lead to “conflict” between home and business owners.
The appeal doesn’t specifically name the business, but harbourside restaurant Sarcoa has been at legal loggerheads for two years with its landlord, the Hamilton Waterfront Trust, and the building’s property owner, the municipality, over contentious late-night patio parties.
Local residents and even homeowners across the bay complained about amplified dance music booming outside past 11 p.m. The city cited the rules against amplified patio music when it asked Sarcoa to pull the plug on the late-night dance parties, ultimately prompting an ongoing lawsuit over the restaurant’s rights.
Sarcoa owner Sam Destro previously told The Spectator he was more concerned about his rights under his lease than the city’s proposed patio music pilot, which would still require the bar to seek a noise bylaw exemption.
Lawyer Herman Turkstra, a founder of Harbour West Neighbours, as well as a principal of the law firm pursuing the appeal, earlier warned councillors the pilot would “take away the rights of neighbours.”