Halifax Council Waives Fees For Sidewalk Café Seating
HALIFAX — City restaurants won’t have to shell out for sidewalk café permits this year.
Regional Council voted Tuesday to waive the usual fees the city charges to businesses looking to set up outdoor seating.
As Councillor Shawn Cleary pointed out at Tuesday’s regional council meeting, waving the fees is seen as a “small thing but an important thing” council can do for businesses struggling to stay open during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It is a small thing when you look at the fees overall but given the situation we’re in I think it would be rather insulting to a lot of business to say, ‘yeah we realize your revenue is down 50, 60, 80, 90 percent but we still want our 1,000 bucks,’” Cleary said.
Fees for sidewalk cafes in the city range from $250 for a seasonal, unenclosed seating to $1,000 for an annual sidewalk café license.
Not collecting those fees this year will cost the municipality about $40,000 and have a “small” impact on the city’s overall budget, according to HRM staff.
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Most Halifax restaurants have been forced to fully or partially close due to the Covid-19, and public health measures mean they likely won’t be able to reopen at full capacity in the near future.
Sidewalk cafés will provide vital extra seating that could help those businesses stay afloat this year but the province has not yet said if public health measures will allow them to open.
Councillor Wayne Mason pointed out that it will be tough for restaurants to justify spending money on a patio when they don’t know if, or for how long, they will be able to use it.
“If we can waive these fees then that gives us some opportunity to provide some relief to some of the hardest-hit businesses,” he said.
Council’s motion waives fees for sidewalks cafes for the period between May 27 and December 31 of 2020. Any business owner who has already paid their fees for the year will be credited the amount they paid to their next application before March 31, 2024.