City looking at refining temporary patio rules for Calgary bars and restaurants

Calgary's flirtation with temporary patios may look a bit different this year.

The city is proposing to tweak the guidelines that have allowed bars and restaurants to move some of their tables into public areas outside their front or side doors.

Instead of spilling out onto the sidewalks, the city wants its sidewalks kept clear this year and for businesses to set up shop in the curb lane of the street in front of their premises.

The seasonal patio program was sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Businesses were hurt by COVID-related gathering restrictions, and patrons, who might have been reluctant to drink or dine indoors, were more willing to sit outside.

According to the City of Calgary, 116 of the temporary patios were set up in 2020. In 2021, the number jumped to 219.

But having the patios on the sidewalk created headaches for people with mobility or vision challenges.

Obstacle courses

Businesses were allowed to use temporary ramps to divert pedestrians onto the street. 

The ramps were often difficult to use or didn't provide enough room for people using wheelchairs to be able to turn.

There were also orange plastic barriers and sawhorses set up which created what could be a hazardous maze for people just trying to get by the temporary patios.

On Thursday, city council's infrastructure and planning committee voted unanimously to support the new guidelines.

At the meeting, a member of city council's advisory committee on accessibility, Jim Brown, told councillors that the changes being proposed are an opportunity to "get it right" and not hinder those with mobility or vision challenges.

"A clear path of travel and not having to go back and forth from sidewalk to road is good for everyone, including seniors, people with mobility devices, parents with strollers and people with sight loss to have an unobstructed and predictable route," said Brown.

Best practices

The chair of the council committee, Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra, said he was pleased city administration responded to the problems created by the first iteration of the temporary patios.

"While we were celebrating the explosion of patio culture, we were also hearing a lot from Calgarians about how the accessibility was just unacceptably below par," said Carra.

"Best practices around the world is that you actually move either the patio into the curb lane or you allow the patio to take up the entire sidewalk, but you require the business to build a full boardwalk that doesn't require a step down or step up and is a little bit more esthetically pleasing."

The city will continue to provide concrete barriers to businesses to help protect their patios from vehicular traffic, Carra expects to see fewer orange plastic signs and fences this year.

Fees waived again?

After waiving all permit fees for the past two years, the city was proposing to charge businesses for the patio developments this year. It was anticipating that would raise $680,000 this year in revenues.

But Coun. Peter Demong proposed reaching into reserve funds to waive the fees for another year and the committee agreed with the idea.

He said the pandemic hurt revenues for bars and restaurants so continuing to waive the fees would help them.

"Small business have been taking a bit of a big hit," said Demong. "I would very much like to be able to give these small businesses a chance to thrive going into next year."

With the committee's approval of the changes, city council will discuss the proposals at its meeting on April 12.