The City of Victoria has tweaked its patio bylaw to allow for some boulevards to be used as outdoor eating and drinking space.
Council voted unanimously this week to have staff amend the bylaw, passed earlier this year, to allow landlords who already had patios on unpaved boulevards to negotiate with the city to have them hardscaped.
It also directed staff to come up with ideas by 2026 to allow seasonal patios on unpaved boulevards.
The decision means at least two neighbourhood pub patios should be saved.
The boulevard patios set up by the 5th St. Bar and Grill on Hillside Avenue and Beagle Pub in Cook Street Village would have had to close by the end of November this year without the new rules, as the patio bylaw precluded the use of softscape boulevards for patios.
The city’s patio bylaw, which passed in March, marked a return to pre-pandemic rules, which had been suspended when the city introduced the Business Recovery from Pandemic Bylaw and related Build Back Victoria program, which permitted patios so businesses could meet pandemic-related social distancing requirements.
That program was designed to help with economic recovery as the pandemic waned and restrictions were relaxed.
The program was popular, with at least 36 patios established around the city during the pandemic, most of them along sidewalks or in parking spaces in front of businesses. Two were set up on boulevards.
Mayor Marianne Alto said during the pandemic, the city tried to be flexible. “And what we learned from it is there really is a very significant patio culture emerging in Victoria,” she said. “We want the city generally to be more interesting, more fun, more attractive and provide that variable experiential opportunity that makes it a great place to live.”
With business getting back to normal, the city adopted the Patio Regulation Bylaw with an eye to maintaining some of the vibrant patios and street life realized during the pandemic while protecting public space and city assets.
The Patio Regulation Bylaw allows eligible businesses to apply for either simple temporary patios to be set up daily, or complex patios with semi-permanent structures. There are options for seasonal and annual licences.
The complex patios can be operated on sidewalks, in select plazas and parks, or on roadways, while simple patios are limited to sidewalks, plazas and select parks.
The bylaw also includes an inspection process to ensure safety and accessibility.
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