Ottawa patio bylaw not being enforced

City officials are being lenient on a patio bylaw that has been put in place to allow for snow clearance.

The bylaw states before March 31, patios on city property can't be up during the night. That means they would have to be dismantled every night.

But unseasonably record-setting warm weather has every restaurant chomping for March business. Steve Monuk runs 15 restaurants in the ByWard Market and knew the warm weather was going to present a problem.

"I know they are looking into the issue and maybe even changing some dates," he said.

The city has decided to send out a letter of permission to at least one pub allowing them to open their patio without a fine. The city also said nobody has been fined for opening the patios before the fine deadline.

For some bar owners, opening a patio early is still worth the fine. The business would be so much higher than the charge.

Also, some large patios can take up to a week to put together, which makes it impossible to dismantle every night.

"Ottawa is patio-crazy. They love to get out of the winter and into the summer as quickly as possible," said Ken Goodhue, the operating partner at the Highlander Pub.

The fine can be up to $5,000 but Goodhue said the St. Patrick's Day business alone made up for that.