A push to allow certain craft brewers located in industrial zones in London, Ont. to open patios will head to full council after being unanimously approved at the committee level.
It’s currently not permitted, but staff are recommending City Hall allow for some exceptions by evaluating each application based on its own merits.
The motion was endorsed Tuesday afternoon by the Planning and Environment Committee but will still need to be approved by full council.
The move would see each request judged on a number of criteria, including the patio’s potential impact on residential neighbours or nearby factories.
Officials with London Brewing Co-operative, which is surrounded by homes and a mechanic’s shop in Old East Village, applied for a patio two months ago.
Worker-owner David Thuss said they value their relationship with the community.
“When we were looking at scaling up our production and moving into a different part of the neighbourhood, we made a point of going out and speaking with all of the neighbours to our building and a few blocks over just to give them the sense of what we’re doing and allowing them to understand how we may impact, positively or negatively, the area,” Thuss said.
Thuss added that a patio would have a big impact on their business.
“We’ve got large doors that we can open up and basically let the sunshine in on those nice, sunny days,” he said.
“The patio just really opens up another avenue for community space. Folks can come out, sit down, have a glass of beer, enjoy some snack foods or some foods that they may wish to bring in and just, you know, spend some times with friends and even family.”
Full council is expected to vote on the matter next week.
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