The Cambridge Downtown and the Hespeler business improvement areas (BIA) will welcome summer with a patio program once again.
The request by the two BIAs was approved at a recent council meeting, during which council members expressed immense support for the street closures. Some even encouraged the program to go beyond just summer.
Lower Main Street in Galt will be closed for the summer and Queen Street East in Hespeler will close Saturdays.
"I also wonder why we're not doing this year round, at least in the good weather months we have," said Coun. Jan Liggett. "It would work well with our downtown. Maybe that's something the BIA could be thinking about more intently going forward."
Coun. Nicholas Ermeta also thought it was the right decision.
"The downtown Cambridge BIA that I sit on are all very excited about this," he said. "It will help the businesses out creating a better environment for people to be able to support them while social distancing. Just the concept of it having a European atmosphere, it's something I'd like to see continue past COVID. I think it's great we've gotten around to this."
Coun. Mike Devine drew on last year's experience to endorse this year's request.
"We did this last year in Hespeler on Queen Street and it was extremely effective," he said. "It was great for the community because people get out and use it. The city staff was fantastic with the set up and tear down. From our perspective, in Ward 2 on Queen Street, it was very very very successful."
The program will tentatively begin on June 5, provincial COVID rules permitting, with sections of Main Street in Downtown Cambridge and Queen Street in Hespeler being closed off for pedestrian-only traffic. The program will last for 21 weeks, wrapping on on Thanksgiving weekend in October.
In Hespeler, Queen Street East, between Guelph Avenue and Tannery Street, will be closed between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. on Saturdays. In addition, the BIA is requesting an in-kind donation by the city for the set up and removal of street barricades and six picnic tables.
In Downtown Cambridge, lower Main Street will be closed for the duration of the program. Like its Hespeler counterpart, the Downtown Cambridge BIA is also requesting an in-kind donation by the city for the set up and removal of street barricades and picnic tables.
Laura Pearce, the city's senior economic development officer, explained why there will be no road closures in the Preston BIA.
The Preston BIA did not make a similar request, as did Hespeler and Downtown Galt, was her written response shared in an email by a city communications supervisor.
"They are still undergoing ongoing construction due to the regional streetscaping project on King Street," wrote Pearce. "Restaurants in Preston are still able to take advantage of the temporary patio expansion program."
Last year, the city initiated a pandemic-related temporary use bylaw that allows patios on private property in zones that permit restaurants. The bylaw applies to all zones throughout Cambridge that permit restaurants. The temporary use bylaw was approved for three years ending on Sept. 22, 2023. Additionally, the fees associated with the patio permit application process will be waived until Dec. 31 this year.
