On-street patios and retail spaces will be back this summer in Collingwood’s downtown.
During the March 20 regular council meeting, councillors voted to proceed with continuing to allow on-street patios and retail spaces this summer, while reducing the speed limit on Hurontario St. to 30 km/hour.
But the fees for businesses to do so won’t be as high as originally considered by council and staff.
“Since our last meeting... I’ve had a lot of conversations with restaurant owners and follow up with staff. It’s come to my attention that, prior to the pandemic, the only fees associated with the patios were the application fee. At the time, it was a one-time fee,” said Coun. Brandon Houston during Monday’s meeting.
“While this is not a significant revenue source for the municipality, these fees do have a significant impact on the restaurants’ bottom lines in our community,” said Houston. “While patios do benefit the restaurant, they also bring with them additional economic and community benefits that far outweigh the revenue that will be generated by these fees.”
Under the motion considered by council, downtown merchants would pay annual fees of $80 for a sidewalk retail display, $150 for a sidewalk patio licence or an annual licence fee of $350 for street patios.
Houston proposed an amendment to remove any fees aside from those annual licensing fees, which was passed 8-1 (Coun. Deb Doherty was opposed) by councillors on Monday night.
Such additional fees proposed by staff included charging businesses an additional $3.50 per square metre per month to lease right of ways (sidewalks) for the patio, a lease rate of $3.50 per square metre per month to rent street space and, if the street patios use a parking space, staff were proposing an $8 per day fee, to counteract the loss of parking revenue.
“If we’re moving out of the pandemic and if our goal is to get back to normal, ‘normal’ was not charging these businesses fees in the first place,” he said.
Mayor Yvonne Hamlin agreed.
“The day may come when we should be charging for the use of our public space, but I don’t think that now is the time,” said Hamlin.
While patios and retail merchandise have been permitted on the sidewalks of Downtown Collingwood for more than 10 years, during the pandemic the town expanded patio rules for downtown businesses to allow more seating and retail options outdoors to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.
This was permitted through a temporary encroachment bylaw which first went into effect on June 15, 2020 and expired Jan. 1, 2023. Under the bylaw, patios were permitted to expand beyond their building frontage upon receiving consent from the neighbouring business and the ability to use on-street parking spaces to accommodate physical distance separation requirements for additional seating.
Merchandise displays were permitted during hours of operation, including tents along the curbside which were previously restricted to weekends and holidays.
In 2022, there were 13 Collingwood businesses with sidewalk patios, eight had on-street patios, one had a winter patio and two had curbside retail displays.
During Monday’s discussions, Coun. Deb Doherty said she and other councillors had received letters from multiple restaurateurs with businesses in Collingwood’s downtown.
“I really had to think again about this proposal,” said Doherty. “I do believe that the town should charge some amount for the use of public space downtown. But the amount that is being proposed... when you do the math, for a small restaurant it does become an oppressive amount.”
There was some debate about patios at the committee level, and whether the town would be following recommendations for barriers made by the Ontario Traffic Council.
“I support roadway patios, but not some of the safety measures of this option,” said Deputy Mayor Tim Fryer.
“I was only concerned about liability, which is a concern I still do have,” said Coun. Chris Potts.
To address their concerns, council opted to separate the two motions. Council voted unanimously in favour of the amended motion to allow on-street patios and retail spaces this summer, while reducing the speed limit on Hurontario St. to 30 km/hour, with the amended fee structure.
Council voted 6-2 not to follow the recommendations for specific bollards or barriers from the Ontario Traffic Council, with Fryer and Potts opposed to the deviation from the council recommendations.
In 2024, there is a downtown "visioning" exercise planned that could bring more changes, so the proposed bylaws would be temporary.
