Council is considering a one-year pilot project that would allow downtown restaurants to set up sidewalk seating, where patrons could sit and enjoy a meal throughout the summer.
Restauranteurs have been requesting sidewalk seating for many years, but the request has been continuously pushed aside, as the municipality works on a new bylaw to address commercial use of public land. (The bylaw will also cover busking, the farmer’s market and street festivals.)
Administration estimates it will take about a year for that bylaw to be completed and suggests that conducting pilot projects—like the one for the farmer’s market last year that will continue this year—will assist in the creation of the bylaw, as it will provide trials for the municipality to review, with no obligation to allow those uses to continue.
“It bears mentioning that it’s a significant piece of work,” said Coun. Gilbert Wall of the bylaw. “Something as simple as sidewalk seating, the regulations and the package associated with this one little thing is quite astounding.
“So the idea of a pilot project is to work out as many of the bugs involved in this as possible, so we have a really good bylaw in the future.”
Mike Day, a former town councillor and the owner of Evil Dave’s Grill, has been pushing for sidewalk seating for a number of years and was at the council meeting March 3 to champion the idea.
Last month, he reached out to restauranteurs to gauge their interest in the pilot project and received emails from half a dozen expressing a desire to take part.
Those restaurants include the Other Paw and Bear’s Paw bakeries, Jasper Brewing Co., Syrahs of Jasper, Papa George’s Restaurant, Cassio’s Italian Restaurant and, of course, Day’s own restaurant.
That expression of interest isn’t a guaranteed spot in the project, however. If council directs administration to move forward with the pilot project at its March 17 meeting, the municipality will then contact the restaurants in the downtown core via mail, requesting that they formally apply.
In order for a restaurant to qualify, it has to have room for 1.8 metres of unobstructed sidewalk beside its proposed sidewalk seating.
This requirement, which meets national standards, was identified in the proposal as being a possible stumbling block for the project because Jasper’s sidewalks are relatively narrow.
Another stumbling block could be the bureaucratic process required to make the project a reality. That process includes both the municipality and Parks Canada and requires numerous levels of approval, beginning with council’s decision on March 17.
After that, the pilot will be considered by the Planning and Development Advisory Committee, which will then make a recommendation to the park superintendent, who will then make a decision on whether or not to allow it to proceed.
From there it will return to the municipality, which will have to approve special event permits for the specific restaurants that have applied and meet the necessary requirements.
Day said the hope is that all of the necessary approvals will be received in time for June.
“That would be the season that’s primarily advantageous to be outside.”
Following the pilot—which doesn’t currently have concrete dates attached to it, beyond its one-year timeframe—participating restauranteurs will be required to submit a report, answering specific questions drafted by the municipality.
Those reports will then be reviewed by the municipality and Parks.
“I think the intention would be to see how the summer goes, because that is going to be our peak time,” said Day. Then the municipality will see “if there’s congestion on sidewalks, are the visitors and residents enjoying it, are there issues?
“That’s probably when we’re going to get the most feedback and the most robust indication of whether or not it’s going to be a success.”
Nicole Veerman
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