INCREASING DOWNTOWN NEWMARKET ACTIVITY: PARKING AND PATIOS

NRU
March 22, 2017
Andrew Cohrs

Newmarket is considering further permissions for downtown businesses that have used parking spaces to accommodate outdoor patios. The downtown BIA, town staff and local councillor all agree: patios bring life to downtown.

“The patios are a fantastic idea.... People come for the patio and then they visit other stores. That’s very important because all of sudden there is more business on Main Street,” Ward 4 councillor Bob Kwapis told NRU.

First introduced as a pilot project in 2015, the downtown patios pilot project permitted two restaurants to use two on-street parking spaces each as a patio for patrons to eat and drink outdoors. In 2016, the program was made permanent and added two more restaurants. In total, the four restaurants used six parking spaces, as some business needed two spaces and others only one.

The patios, in place seasonally from May to October, are built on the public sidewalk. But it is the restaurant’s responsibility to use the parking spaces to construct a fully accessible pedestrian route around the patio.

On Monday, after a successful trial period that yielded no extra noise complaints, the committee of the whole recommended extending patio hours to 11 p.m. Main Street District BIA Chair Glenn Wilson told NRU that while there was originally some concern in the program’s first year of operation about the loss of parking spaces, the benefits outweighed the negatives.

“The sacrifice to Main Street – the [on-street] parking – was of concern but then we saw that [the patios] were bringing a lot of people to the street,” he said. “There was quite an attraction to that and it made the street more pedestrian friendly but also had a sort of street mall effect, just having people out in the street without closing the street down.”

Wilson says only four restaurants currently participate in the program, but says there is interest from other restaurants and he welcomes the creation of more patios. He notes that, to qualify for the program, restaurants must agree to be open seven days a week. This requirement, he says, has helped to create activity during slower days, like Monday, for all businesses in the area.

Town planner Ted Horton told NRU that the program has been a success. He says that as part of the downtown community improvement plan, the patio program was meant to increase pedestrian activity and enhance the street life of Main Street. Horton says a building permit is not required, but the town leases the space to the restaurants for approximately $700 each season. As part of the application process, patio and sidewalk rerouting designs need to be fully accessible and not impede pedestrian or vehicular movement. As well, patio materials must complement the heritage character of downtown.

If more businesses want to join the program, Horton says council would need to authorize the use of additional parking spaces beyond the six now allocated. Council will consider extending the patios hours of operation on March 27.