City planning to create downtown patio zones

Special council meeting called for Thursday as patios prepare to reopen

Plans to potentially close streets and sidewalks to create patio zones in downtown Peterborough could take a step forward on Thursday.

At a special virtual committee meeting on Thursday at 6 p.m., city councillors will consider authorizing city CAO Sandra Clancy to close streets and sidewalks, or to decrease speed limits downtown, to allow more patios or outdoor shopping.

Although the provincial government announced on Monday that existing restaurant patios can reopen, indoor dining rooms are still closed — and to reopen, they will need outdoor patio space.

Meanwhile, boutiques downtown may need more space for curbside pickup or to offer outdoor sales, states a new city staff report. City staff proposes to work with the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) to determine ways to afford additional outdoor space to restaurants and boutiques.

Giving the city CAO authority to close lanes of roads and sidewalks, grant licences or decrease speed limits would mean Peterborough could respond quickly as protocols change, it adds.

The report doesn’t identify which streets or sidewalks downtown could potentially close to accommodate patios or outdoor shopping — those decisions are expected later.

Although the plans will help

downtown businesses, the report states that the CAO would also have the authority to close lanes of traffic or sidewalks elsewhere in the city, as needed.

Councillors will discuss the plan at a meeting on Thursday and then a ratification vote will come immediately afterward.

Restaurants that have existing patios will be allowed to open those on Friday. The city issued a press release Tuesday afternoon detailing the provincial government’s guidelines for the reopening.

Physical distancing of at least two metres must be kept between groups from separate households, for example.

Restaurants will be taking reservations for their patios so there are no lineups, the release states, and access to the inside of the restaurant must be limited to use of the washroom, for payment or for pickup of takeout food.

Peterborough Public Health has also worked with the city to develop precautions for restaurants to follow as they reopen their patios: the use of overhead structures such as canopies is prohibited, for instance, and patios must operate with no more than 50 per cent of the previously approved customer capacity.

$54M project planned to flood-proof Water, Simcoe

City councillors voted on Monday to have the city apply for a federal grant to cover 40 per cent of a $54-million project to help flood-proof the downtown.

The project would focus on Simcoe Street and Water Street areas of downtown, which are flood-prone.

A city staff report describes the installation of storm pipes meant to handle a 100-year storm, as well as additional catch basins that would divert both rainwater and Jackson Creek water from the downtown into the Otonabee River.

The cost of $54 million was estimated in 2018 and includes a 20 per cent contingency.

If the city were successful, it would receive a federal grant of about $21.6 million toward the project.

The city would then have to cover for the remaining $32.4 million, which could be paid off over the next several years through capital levies and through sources such as fees charged to maintain storm sewers.

The application is due by July 17 and municipalities will receive news by fall 2020.

The work must be done by March 31, 2028.

The city has applied twice before for similar grants, states the staff report: once in the summer of 2015 and again in the summer of 2018.

But on May 26, the city was invited to apply again because the federal government still had $230 million to offer, following a first intake of applications in this current round of grants.

Councillors gave preliminary approval on Monday for the city to apply; a final vote on that plan is expected June 22.

Four voted against the plan: Coun. Andrew Beamer, Coun. Kim Zippel, Coun. Gary Baldwin and Coun. Keith Riel, who said it was too expensive.

While the provincial government hasn’t offered any money yet toward this project, Mayor Diane Therrien said, that could change later.