Keep patios open

For many in Toronto, the first joyful sign of spring isn’t the sighting of a robin or a crocus, but the first day it’s warm enough to enjoy a drink or a meal in an outdoor café.

Restaurant patios are a vital part of city life. They attract tourists, give cooped-up city dwellers a place to meet friends and neighbours, provide employment and street animation and boost retail occupancy.

So the city should do what it can to encourage restaurateurs to open sidewalk cafés, right?

Instead, city staff presented “concepts” for proposed fee increases this week that could hike the cost of operating a patio by more than 1,000 per cent, in some cases. As city councillor Mike Layton tweeted: “A fee increase of this magnitude is bonkers.”

No kidding. The proposed fee hikes presented to angry stakeholders this week would put Toronto restaurant owners at a disadvantage compared to those in cities like Victoria, San Francisco and Vancouver. In fact, fees for downtown Toronto operators would verge on those in Manhattan.

That’s why licensing department staff are recommending they be phased in over five years for existing permit holders.

That’s not good enough. Out-of-the-gate high fees for new restaurants might deter owners from opening up a patio in the first place, and increasing fees for existing permit holders might force them to eventually close their sidewalk cafés.

City staff should go back to the drawing board before making their final recommendations to the Licensing and Standards Committee when it meets on April 18.

And the committee should give any huge hikes a thumbs down; instead it should raise a toast to encouraging street life in Toronto.