Temporary patios are on their way back to Bradford West Gwillimbury this summer.
Councillors made the recommendation to move forward with a temporary patio program for another year during their meeting earlier this week.
The municipality was one of many in the province that loosened its patio regulations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing restaurants greater flexibility in creating patios and the ability to continue serving dine-in customers while provincial regulations limited interior capacity.
The program grew year-over-year in 2020 and 2021, with 17 temporary patios in its first year and 22 temporary patios in the second. Last year, fewer businesses took part as COVID restrictions eased, with only nine temporary patios erected in 2023.
Each year, town staff surveyed the impacted businesses, with local restaurant owners calling the program an “economic lifeline.” The elimination of COVID-19 restrictions has lessened the need for these patios, staff noted, as has an inability to retain the staff required to serve customers. In last year’s survey, four of the six participating restaurants said they would continue participating in a temporary program.
Still, the program was not without its issues. Staff noted there have been “a number of complaints” from the public regarding traffic congestion and parking. Local merchants have also begun to complain about the program, the staff report stated, changing their tune from the start of the pandemic.
Those complaints dealt primarily with impacts to parking near their businesses, particularly when barricades for patios have been put in place, but the business didn’t utilize the program as planned.
While no local businesses were singled out in the report, a Holland Street business owner is a sitting councillor. Coun. Peter Dykie wanted to find a happy medium in any decision he and his colleagues made about patios, particularly downtown.
“We definitely have to support and encourage our outdoor patios,” he said. “The owners really (need) to respect the noise bylaw. I’ve heard it from many residents after 11 o’clock. I know it’s enforced, but it’s very important that they stay within their guidelines and don’t take advantage of it.”
The town’s roads department, in its comments on the matter, recommended that if a temporary program was brought back for 2023 that it only apply to private property, avoiding any lane or sidewalk closures. That’s the option Coun. Jonathan Scott sought to see his colleagues approve.
“Particularly, I think post-COVID, and knowing how the programs worked, particularly last summer, Option B is sufficient,” Scott said. “I don’t think we need to involve lane closures again this summer. I think that’s the one piece that didn’t work so well last year.”
The option to place temporary patios on private property only was one of three suggested by staff for council consideration. Scott was joined by Coun. Peter Ferragine and Coun. Ben Verkaik, with the latter saying he felt that this option was the obvious choice.
Coun. Nickolas Harper disagreed. For him, another option suggested by staff, a status-quo option that would see the temporary patio program be offered on both private and public property once again, was the way for council to move.
“This will actually help increase (acceptance) the change that is coming to Bradford and for the residents and for the businesses as well,” Harper said. “This will promote more businesses to actually adopt and get used to a patio program, seasonally.”
The other option suggested by staff was to do nothing and not allow temporary patios this year.
Harper’s comments echoed some of Scott’s preamble to suggest the private-only option, as Scott said the temporary program gave an “imperfect” preview of what Holland Street could look like once the revitalization project is complete.
In the interim, both private and public temporary patios are bound to keep bringing more people downtown, suggested Coun. Joe Giordano. The public and private option would help those businesses who want to have a patio but don’t have the private space to accommodate it.
“Many people in my ward, the first time they went to many of these establishments was because of the patio program,” he said. “There’s actually a lack of patios in a lot of areas of Bradford and having that experience… under the stars is quite nice.”
The private-only option failed in the first round of voting. The public-private option was then moved and subsequently passed. Once an application is approved, businesses will have seven days to complete their patios if located on public property.
