Expect More Outdoor Patios and Cafés To Stay Open In Halifax This Winter
HALIFAX — Haligonians will likely see more patios and outdoor cafés stay open this winter after Regional Council approved a new bylaw that will make it easier for year-round, outdoor seating to remain open in the city.
The bylaw gives more power to the licensing authority to grant permits for year-round seating and makes it easier for licensed “seasonal” outdoor seating to transition to year-round.
Should the bylaw pass final reading, it will be the latest in a string of changes council made this year to outdoor seating rules.
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As restaurants struggled to survive amid Covid-19, council has already loosened restrictions around sidewalk seating and made special exceptions to let “seasonal” patios stay open much longer than usual.
Along with extending seasonal patio licenses until November 15, council has also let cafés and patios to encroach into streets and sidewalks more than is usually allowed.
Right now, there are 50 licensed “seasonal” cafés that have been allowed to open under those special circumstances.
This new bylaw will give owners of seasonal patios an easy path to operate their outdoor patios and cafés on a permanent, year-round basis.
It will also give licensing authorities the power to overrule the strict guidelines limiting how much year-round outdoor seating can cut into the width of a road.
As city staff laid out in their report on the bylaw, this change will hopefully allow seasonal patios and cafés and to transition to annual facilities.
“This may assist restaurant and café proprietors with economic recovery from COVID-19, should such establishments choose to extend their café season,” staff wrote.
Restaurants and cafés have been some of the hardest-hit businesses during the pandemic, and many have only survived thanks to outdoor seating options.
“This summer patios were a bright light because people were more comfortable eating out in a patio setting outdoors,” Kevin Murphy, the president and CEO of Murphy’s Hospitality Group, told Huddle earlier this year.
With Covid-19 cases rising and the government unlikely to ease public health restrictions any time soon, some restaurants hope extending outdoor seating through the winter can them survive.
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In addition to looser licensing rules, the new bylaw also makes business owners who operate year-round outdoor seating responsible for snow removal at those locations.
Trevor Nichols is a reporter for Huddle in Halifax. Send him an e-mail with your story suggestions: [email protected].