Patio season delayed for some amid closer scrutiny

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/06/2022 (1524 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Restaurants and bars are opening doors to seasonal patios, but some are finding the City of Winnipeg wants to keep them closed for just a bit longer.

While hospitality businesses are still trying to make up lost ground and revenue from more than two years of COVID-19 pandemic fallout, some owners and managers say city bylaw and liquor inspectors aren’t being as lenient about patios as they were in the recent past.

Jason Hooper, artistic director at the West End Cultural Centre, said it has been told its outdoor venue, tucked behind the Ellice Avenue building with its entrance on the side off the sidewalk, can’t yet open its bar inside a converted shipping container. Instead, this weekend, the WECC will have to use another temporary bar outdoors.

“The only hiccup from the city this year is they’ve asked for structural drawings of our shipping container bar,” Hooper said Friday.

“Our architect/engineer for the company said it’s not an unusual thing. The city wants to make sure it hasn’t been done in such a way to make it structurally unstable.”

Hooper said that’s different than last year, when the shipping container went into use in September with no problems.

“We will still open our patio (this weekend),” he said. “Where we usually have parking we built a small stage. We charge admission and 100 per cent goes to the bands.

“But we’ll be wrapping up by 10 p.m., out of respect for the neighbours… who really enjoyed it last year. They put out lawn chairs on their yard and enjoyed the shows from there.”

Shaun Jeffrey, chief executive officer of Manitoba Restaurant & Foodservices Association, said it’s not the first he’s heard of patio hitches.

“Both (city) inspectors and (liquor) inspectors are definitely a lot less lenient than they were earlier in the pandemic,” Jeffrey said. “They are really sticking to the requirements.

“We understand they are there for a reason, but we really need to have an active patio season. Restaurants are still at the beginning of recovery.”

Jeffrey said outdoor patios are especially needed by restaurants and bars that are able to set them up because the industry has found many people, due to COVID-19, still aren’t feeling comfortable coming inside to dine or have a drink.

“We shouldn’t have any roadblocks,” he added.

City of Winnipeg spokesman Kalen Qually said the city first introduced the temporary patio registration program a few months into the pandemic in May 2020.

Qually said it allowed restaurants and licensed establishments to take part in the province’s reopening strategy through “an expedited patio registration process.”

“Prior to the launch of the temporary patio registration program, businesses needed to acquire a one-time permanent development and/or building permit and an encroachment permit where required, to operate their patio space,” he said.

“The city has since continued to offer the temporary registration program as a season-long alternative to the permanent permit process, which is more expensive and time-consuming to complete.”

Qually said city council later approved the waiving of administration fees in summer 2021, and has since extended that to March 2023.

The program operates and allows patios to open in summer from April 1 to Oct. 31, and in winter from Nov. 1 to March 31.

— with files from Tyler Searle

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca