Don’t be surprised if you see people coming up to you in downtown Kamloops, asking you to take a survey over the next few days and weeks.

The Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association (KCBIA) wants to hear from you about the future of the temporary outdoor patio program after this year.

“Some say [the patios] enhance the downtown, that it adds to vibrancy and creates a nice buzz, while others say it takes away from parking and therefore they prefer that the patios are gone,” Executive Director, Howie Reimer, said.

“So we want to put it out and see what comes back as far as what they want with extended patios, or more parking, or a little bit of both.”

Back in 2020 and again in 2021, the city brought in the expanded patio program to help businesses recover lost seating due to COVID-19 restrictions, which have all been lifted. The program saw the addition of curb letdowns in parking spaces on city streets at a cost of about $197,000.

There have also been 43 parking stalls displaced downtown, which is costing up to $15,000 per month in lost parking revenue, according to the City.

“[Removing it] would give us more parking in the downtown on Victoria Street and, if they’re not using it, then it’s just creating a problem, is my position,” Walsh said, noting he has seen “up to nine parking stalls unable to be accessed.”

Planning and Development Manager, Rod Martin, told NL News in March, that Kamloops City staff will be going before council in the fall to see if there is an appetite to make some or all of these temporary patios permanent.

That is also when a decision could be made on what fees could be brought in to keep these patios operational.

“There has been a lot of support for these patios so I imagine it is something we will look favourably upon,” he said at the time. “I think there will be a lot of pressure to try and keep them in place, so we’ll see in the fall.”

There is no date when City staff will go before council with their recommendations. The deadline for restaurants, bars, and liquor manufacturers to make temporary extended patios permanent has been extended from June 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.

“Some local governments needed additional time to make the needed policy changes and assess applications for permanent structural changes in their communities,” Public Safety Minister, Mike Farnworth said, in a statement, at the time.

“This extension will also give businesses more time to apply and prevent the risk of disrupting patio service during the busy summer season.”

Reimer says there will be two surveys done by the KCBIA. One will be for the public and non-participating businesses, with the other going to businesses that were part of the temporary patio program.

He also says they’ll also be asking businesses whether they want to cover the cost of installing and removing these patios every spring and fall.

“You have got to find balance but we also want it to be a democratic process and we want to find out what is best,” Reimer said. “As the Executive Director of the the Downtown BIA, it is up to me to do what is best for business.”