Changes coming to Calgary temporary patio program to improve accessibility

With warm weather here, temporary patios will soon be popping up in Calgary like so many flowers and shrubs.

But instead of having to weave around high-visibility orange barriers and up and down ramps, patios will be easier to navigate if city council approves the recommendations from the city’s infrastructure and planning committee.

Under the recommendations, pop-up patios can take three forms: the dining area up against the building and providing two metres for pedestrians on the remaining sidewalk, the dining area in the curb lane and providing the entire sidewalk for pedestrians, or a walkway level with the sidewalk built up to go around a more permanent patio area.

Another recommendation unanimously approved by the committee was to waive all fees related to seasonal patios – a repeat of the past two years.

“I would very much like to be able to give these small businesses the chance to recuperate and thrive going into next year,” Ward 14 Coun. Peter Demong said when presenting the amendment to waive fees for a third year.

Assuming demand this year is the same as last, city officials estimate $1.5 million in lost fees and about $500,000 in lost parking revenue – revenues to be made up from reserve funds.

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Originally launched as a way to support establishments early on in the pandemic in a COVID-safe way, the program has been “highly successful” according to John Bolger with the City of Calgary.

In 2020, 116 businesses set up temporary patios under the program. In 2021, that number nearly doubled to 219.

Feedback from businesses, the community and accessibility advocates was factored into the recommendations for the 2022 patio season.

“Administration’s focus is to be flexible for businesses and provide accessibility,” Bolger said.

Jim Brown, a member of the council’s advisory committee on accessibility said a clear path of travel past patios helps more than just people with physical disabilities.

“A clear path of travel and not having to go back and forth from a sidewalk to road is good for everyone, including seniors, people with mobility devices, parents with strollers and people with sight loss to have an unobstructed and predictable route,” Brown said.

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Ernie Tsu, president of the Alberta Hospitality Association and owner of Trolley 5 on 17th Avenue said the safety of guests dining in the curb lane has been a concern for the past two seasons. And the safety of servers having to cross lanes of pedestrian traffic is also a concern.

If establishments opt to build out a “boardwalk” around a patio area, they’ll likely have to do so at their own expense, Bolger said. But the city is looking into ways to provide assistance like the 17th Avenue Business Improvement Area (BIA) has done for Tsu’s neighbours.

“For 17th Avenue, we’re fortunate that the BIA is working with restaurants to make sure that their patios remain the same,” Tsu told Global News.

“Our association’s concern is the restaurants that may lose their patios this year because they might be on a roadway that does not give them the ability to have a patio on the first lane of traffic.”

Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said the “explosion” of patio activity in the city that resulted from the pandemic patio policy was unlike anything the city saw before, calling it “fabulous.”

“What we also passed today was an acknowledgment that we’re not out of the woods yet. We’re still in an economic crisis driven by this pandemic. Our hospitality and restaurant businesses are still struggling, and we want them to spend their money building beautiful patios that will stand the test of time.”

In addition to getting rid of “ugly ramps and super-ugly orange barriers,” Carra called the recommendations a “win-win” for sidewalk accessibility as well.

City council next meets on April 12.

— with files from Adam MacVicar, Global News