A recent bylaw that has been enforced since September on Notre-Dame Street West is limiting the location of new restaurants and forcing them to set up shop 25 metres from another restaurant.
The bylaw looks to tackle the issue of having too many restaurants on one street, which could drive up rent prices.
“We want to make sure that there’s services for the citizens,” Craig Sauvé, city councillor, said. “We want restaurants to come, but that’s all we’re seeing right now.”
“That’s a problem because retail and services often don’t have the same liquidity to pay those high rents.”
Already established restaurants agree with the borough’s plan that will effect restaurants looking to establish between Saint-Rémi and the Autoroute 10 access ramp.
“At a certain point that bubble’s going to burst,” Shayne Gryn, Sokolow Deli owner, said. “Then we’re going to be left with a bunch of empty restaurants with rents that are too high for anybody to build anything new.”
Not everyone sees the bylaw as something positive.
“There’s a lot of restrictions in this city on a lot of things,” Lawrence Shatilla, who works nearby, said. “I think it’s very anti-business and I just wish they would loosen up.”
The bylaw will be facing a final vote Tuesday where it could then be confirmed.
“We had to act,” Sauvé said. “That’s why we’re acting now.”