There could be a lot more al fresco dining in the City of North Vancouver this summer, as council moves to make it easier for restaurants to open up or expand patio spaces.
Mayor Linda Buchanan won council’s support for a motion Monday night asking staff to start working on some rule changes that will help businesses survive the slow reopening process under the province’s COVID-19 guidelines.
The B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association is aiming to have its members opening by June 1, but restaurant capacity will likely be scaled back to help maintain physical distancing.
Adding more patio space was one of the top requests from city restaurant, pub and brewery owners who have met with Buchanan as part of the business advisory task force she convened to see how the city can best help them through the crisis.
“They are really looking at the ability to have our staff develop simple, flexible and adaptable plans to be able to temporarily expand their patios as well as make sure that plan also allows for safe pedestrian movement of people past those businesses,” she said.
In addition, Buchanan said she would like the plans to address possibly allowing consumption of alcohol in certain public spaces, so residents will have “informal, safe outdoor places to socialize with their family and friends.”
Coun. Holly Back, who also sits on the task force, said she was struck by how committed the business owners have been to ensuring their reopening doesn’t put public health at risk.
“These people have lost a lot of money over the last couple of months and so I was really pleasantly surprised at their attitudes about how they're going to get back into business. I truly feel, as a city, we need to help them as much as we possibly can.”
Carving out some extra city space for people dining out will not only help the businesses get by, Coun. Tony Valente reasoned, but also help animate the streetscape.
Council’s support for the motion was unanimous.
“Let’s all now pray for a beautiful summer,” Buchanan added.
