Perhaps one of the few bright spots that has come out of the pandemic so far is extended patios, and Kamloops businesses will be allowed to have them again next summer.
Council has voted to allow temporary outdoor patios until Oct. 31 of next year.
The city will provide up to $200,000 for the program, saying 13 businesses used the program this past summer and the city contributed $15,000 to each, on average, for covering the costs of let-down ramps for sidewalks.
That money will come out of the Safe Restart fund provided by the B.C. government; the City of Kamloops received $6.68 million earlier this month from the province.
“We have this grant fund available, the safe restart grant. It’s from the province, and it’s for exactly this sort of thing. To help businesses recover from COVID-19. And I agree with putting a cap on it,” councillor Kathy Sinclair says.
A motion for the cap was made by councillor Sadie Hunter.
“We need to be very pragmatic in terms of how we’re looking at spending this, and it not just being open-ended. So we have 13 businesses interested this year, and maybe if it’s just looked at as an open fund, we have 20 businesses,” Hunter says.
Council will revisit the cap on spending if it all gets used up.
The expanded patio program was brought in to help businesses maintain social distancing and not lose as many customers from a lack of space.
Councillor Mike O’Reilly says what isn’t factored into the city’s financial contributions, is the potential tax revenue lost if businesses close down and their assessed property values decrease.
“That’s a very real thing that could happen, and so if you factor that in, it starts to become a very good decision of council to do this, and help businesses stay successful.”
Council also directed staff to coordinate with the Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association about rotating block closures on Victoria Street to take place, which would allow temporary “pedestrian plazas” next summer between Fridays and Saturdays.
Staff also proposed doing designs for a permanent outdoor pedestrian plaza on 4th Avenue, saying the project would “require significant funds to fully implement it,” and that provincial or federal grant funding could be explored. Council voted against looking into that project, citing financial constraints from the COVID-19 pandemic.
