The quest for sidewalk seating passed its first hurdle March 17 when council unanimously supported a one-year pilot project that will allow eligible restaurants to serve customers who are seated outside their establishments.
With council’s approval, administration is now accepting applications from restaurants interested in participating in the pilot project. Those applications—which include measurements, a letter of consent from the restauranteur’s lessee, drawings showing the restaurant’s proposed street furniture and photos of the proposed location—will be accepted until March 26 and are available on the municipality’s website.
“We encourage everyone who thinks they’re eligible to apply,” said Mark Fercho, chief administrative officer for the town. He noted, though, that it’s likely a number of restaurants will be ineligible because of the limited sidewalk space adjacent to their businesses.
In order to qualify, a restaurant 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 a likely stumbling block because Jasper’s sidewalks are relatively narrow.
When the pilot project came forward to council earlier this month, Mike Day, former councillor and owner of Evil Dave’s Grill, was there to advocate for the town’s restauranteurs.
After council gave its approval Tuesday, he was already on the street, measuring the sidewalk adjacent to his restaurant.
He gave credit to Fercho for bringing the pilot project forward, especially after the municipality has continuously pushed sidewalk seating to the side, as it determines how to handle commercial use of public space.
“Mark found a way that we can proceed, whereas before no one wanted to touch it. So, a lot of kudos to Mark for this.
“Sidewalk seating will add a nice element to the downtown core. It makes it more dynamic and more inviting.
“There’s a feeling of activity going on and buzz on the street.”
Coun. Rico Damota said he is thrilled to see this pilot project making progress.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a really long time,” he said, noting that he’s already noticed staff at the Jasper Brewing Company measuring their sidewalks and testing out their tables outside.
“I think people are really excited about this.”
Now that the pilot project has council approval, interested restauranteurs can submit their applications.
The municipality will then determine which restaurants are eligible and will submit that list, along with the proposal for the pilot program, to the Planning and Development Advisory Committee, which will make a recommendation to the park superintendent. It will then be up to the superintendent to make a decision on whether or not to allow it to proceed.
If he supports the project, it will fall back into the purview of the municipality.
“It comes back to us for the specific requirements around licensing, insurance and whatnot for each site and then we’ll deal with each individual applicant that has made it through to that stage and invite them to be part of the second part of the application,” explained Fercho.
Day said the hope is that all of the necessary approvals will be received in time for June, as the summer season is most advantageous to offer outdoor seating.
Restauranteurs have been requesting sidewalk seating for many years, but until now the request hasn’t been considered because the municipality doesn’t have a bylaw to govern commercial use of public land.
In recent years, that has created frustration for businesses and organizations, as they try to navigate their way through numerous levels of bureaucracy in order to host events.
Administration is currently working on a bylaw to deal with such things and anticipates that it will take about a year to complete. As well as sidewalk seating, it will consider busking, street festivals and the farmer’s market—which was just
approved for its second pilot project, allowing it to use the McCready Centre parking lot for its summer markets.
In the meantime, Fercho said pilot projects are a creative way to allow commercial use of public land, while also collecting information on real-life trials that the municipality can review during the creation of its bylaw.
Nicole Veerman
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