If Hamilton councillors accept a staff recommendation, on-street patios could be a fixture of the city’s restaurants, pubs, and other similar establishments.
City councillors will decide during tomorrow’s planning committee meeting whether they should make last year’s pilot project into a permanent on-street patio program, to operate from May 1 to Oct 31 within the city’s Business Improvement Areas and Community Improvement Plan Areas, The Hamilton Spectator reported.
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Although up to 30 slots were made available last year, only eight businesses operators participated in the program. A staff report noted that all eight participants “felt that the pilot was a success and they fully support a permanent program.” The same report also detailed that 97% out of 113 patio patrons said that they were in support of the program.
Unlike last year’s project, the staff report recommends that alcohol service be permitted if a licensed establishment obtains a permanent licence extension from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO).
Those establishments looking to open an on-street patio space will have to fulfill a number of requirements. They will need to pay a $400 administration fee to the city for each on-street spot, as well as an $815 fee paid to the AGCO. The alcohol permit extension itself requires city inspections that will cost an additional $499.
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Notably, each patio operator must also carry $5 million in commercial general liability insurance, as required.
These expenses exclude the potential cost of constructing a patio and storing it during off-season, or even renting such structures.
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