The City of Toronto has announced suggestions for improving the CafeTO program, which allows restaurants to use curb lanes and sidewalks as patios, for next spring.
In a press conference on Monday, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow spoke about the success of the program and ways to make it better. The improvements put forward are pending city council approval later this fall.
Some improvements for CafeTO 2024 include fast-tracking approvals for returning restaurants that participated in 2023. This will be confirmed earlier, by at least Nov. 30.
They also include an “easier and faster approval process” for new restaurants with applications starting in mid-January.
“We’re not going to wait,” Chow said. “Even in the dark winter, you can imagine your patio being open.”
The city said its goal is to have at least 90 per cent of new applicants approved by mid-April 2024 if all requirements are in place.
The city also plans to start CafeTO by the Victoria Day long weekend in May of next year.
Depending on weather, city staff will start setting up safety equipment for curb lane patios by May 1 to ensure restaurants can be ready to go, officials said.
In 2023, city officials noted there were around 1,000 places to eat outdoors in the city, which included 330 curb lane cafes and 500 sidewalk cafes, as well as dozens of patios on private property.
Staff began removing on-street barriers and equipment from this year’s CafeTO curb lane patios in order to treat roads for when frost and more winter-like weather hits Toronto.
CafeTO program began due to the COVID-19 pandemic when restaurants had restrictions for indoor dining and has become a permanent program in Toronto.