Cities look at expanding sidewalk patios to help restaurants get back on feet

The City of Fredericton wants to expand its use of sidewalk cafs to help restaurants kick-start business while ensuring they have adequate space for physical distancing.

Ken Forrest, the city's director of planning and development, said it was part of an overall plan to help restaurants recover from the devastating financial effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the city is waiving fees for sidewalk patios and being generous with permits in terms of the space allocated.

"The city is demonstrating a fair bit of flexibility this year so that restaurants can take physical distancing into account and try to maximize seating," he said.

He said the city is also looking at providing picnic table seating in public spaces like Officers' Square, Carleton Street and Barracks Square to give customers options for taking food out or having it delivered to those locations.

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"We are moving forward with that initiative in the hopes that those dining options will be available again to the community in the near future," said Forrest."So that initiative is now under way. We're accepting applications."

The city is also looking at closing some streets to vehicular traffic on Sundays to provide more space for physical distancing for cyclists and pedestrians.

"That's another thing that we usually do, but we're considering whether there is some value in applying it in slightly different circumstances this year to help people stay active while maintaining distancing."

New Brunswick

The vice-president Atlantic for Restaurants Canada said waiving the fees and expanding the use of sidewalk patios is a great idea.

"Our businesses have been devastated by the COVID crisis and many operations are closed or barely open because of the requirements for social distancing or the prohibition of dine-in eating," explained Luc Erjavec.

"So anything that can be done to lower the costs and give the operator more opportunity to conduct business is a good thing. Because these restaurants are essential to communities, plus the social and cultural fabric."

Erjavec said New Brunswick restaurant sales have dropped by 80 per cent because of COVID-19, and about 13,700 of the industry's 22,000 employees have been laid off.

He said 48 per cent of New Brunswickrestaurants have temporarily closed; while 38 per cent are doing takeout and delivery.

Nine per cent have already decided to close permanently and Erjavec predicts that number could rise if things continue as they are.

He said 50 per cent of restaurant owners said they couldn't survive beyond three months at the current state of affairs.

Discussions coming

When asked during Thursday's daily news briefing about outdoor patios, the province's chief medical officer of health said "there will be a general approach to all businesses in the different phases, and the ones that have more risk in terms of close proximity and not being as amenable to social distancing will be coming in the later phases."

Dr. Jennifer Russell didn't specifically mention restaurants or patios, but said "all businesses" will have to follow physical-distancing protocols in order to protect staff and patrons when they ramp up.

She said public health officials are scheduled to meet with the province's chambers of commerce Thursday evening to discuss the re-opening of restaurants.

Saint John

Saint John Coun. Donna Reardon said the city should "absolutely" be looking at expanding sidewalk cafs.

"That's on our radar right now," said Reardon, whose ward takes in the uptown area of the city.

Reardon said she often thinks about how to re-start businesses as she walks through her ward and sees everything shut down.

"How do we reopen and still respect social distancing?" she wonders.

She said expanding cafs was on the city's radar last year, so recovering from a global COVID-19 pandemic is even more of a catalyst for doing it.

Reardon said she would like to see the city waive the fees for businesses that open patios.

While acknowledging that the City of Saint John is hurting for revenue, Reardon said it's important the city support businesses thatare trying to recover from the financial effects of the pandemic.

"We need money," she said. "But at the end of the day, you've got to look at how you can support your city getting back on its feet."

She would also like to examine the possibility of closing some streets to traffic to give uptown businesses more options for keeping people apart and for pedestrians to be able to physical distance while out and about.

But she knows there are drawbacks to closing streets, since businesses still need to be able to receive deliveries.

"So, I guess at the end of the day, you need to figure out how everything can work together but still create that space. Because everyone's looking for that whether we have COVID-19 or not more patios and those sorts of things."

The cost might be prohibitive, but it might be the only way in which some businesses can conduct business this year.- Nancy Tissington, Uptown Saint John

Although Uptown Saint John has officially asked the city to increase sidewalk cafs and waive fees for them, it hasn't yet come before council.

"The logistics of it can be a bit tricky but it's all being looked at right now and actively."

"I am willing to support anything to support the businesses in the uptown area to get back on their feet."

Uptown Saint John would also like to see the city support sidewalk patios.

The executive director of the business improvement association, said she's already asked the city to waive the fees for this season's permits. Nancy Tissington would also like to see more restaurants able to expand outside their walls.

She said physical distancing will be a big concern for a lot of uptown restaurants. Many of them are already working in tight quarters, so sidewalk cafs would allow them to expand.

And for those who have converted to takeout, Tissington said, those customers might be inclined to continue taking out if they can also enjoy the uptown atmosphere.

"They can still take the takeout and go to a nearby picnic table or an extension of the patio. It would be limited, but it would certainly help," she said.

"And having that fee waived would certainly help a lot of the restaurant owners right now."

Tissington said some of her members have also asked for streets to be shut down to motorized traffic. It's something worth exploring, but she has concerns about it like losing parking spaces for uptown businesses that aren't restaurants.

"We don't just have restaurants. We have retail. We have other sectors in our uptown. So we have to be fair when we're making these judgment calls."

She said she's "leaning more towards the extension of a patio, as opposed to shutting streets." While she hopes the city will be generous with new applications, she understands that there are upfront costs to setting up new patios.

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"The cost might be prohibitive, but it might be the only way in which some businesses can conduct business this year," she said.

Tissington sent a formal request to the city on April 23 and said the response "is a bit delayed and I'm a little disappointed."

She's going to wait until the end of the week and then "go at them again," she said

"If you want to help then this is an absolute solution right here to waive their fees now," said Tissington.

Moncton

Moncton is also considering its options for sidewalk patios.

Kevin Silliker, the director of economic development for the city of Moncton, said officials are trying to figure out how to launch the annual program amid COVID-19 restrictions.

The first step, he said, is to figure out if the program, as it existed before, can proceed. In some cases, traditional patio locations may not be suitable. For example, some may be too close to pedestrian traffic or too small to allow for physical distancing, he said.

"And if we can't do those," said Silliker, "are there other spaces that might be available?"

Silliker said the city is considering expanding into parks and public streets. The idea would be to set up an outdoor "common food court space," in close proximity to the restaurant or caf from where the food and beverages would come.

The city has already received a number of applications for outdoor patios, and Silliker said all fees will be waived this year.