A curb letdown being built on Victoria Street in downtown Kamloops. (Photo via Colton Davies)
The Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association is calling on the City of Kamloops to develop a more equitable extended patio plan.
Speaking on the NL Noon Report, Executive Director Howie Reimer, says it is needed to better accommodate and benefit more downtown businesses.
“The KCBIA believes that the patios do provide vibrancy but they do take away from the parking and so we want to make sure that due diligence is done,” he said.
“We do need it done in short order because spring is just around the corner and it would be a shame if we had no extended patios, but it would also be against the wishes [of the business community] to keep them all up.”
City councillors voted on Tuesday to allow businesses that want the existing extended patios to keep it until October while those that are not needed any more will be removed by April.
In a letter to City Council, Reimer says the removal of patios each winter will ensure there are more parking spots available during the holiday shopping season.
“The KCBIA’s vision is one of a walkable, pedestrian friendly downtown,” he wrote. “We believe extended patios add vibrancy and increased benefits to many businesses, however the program needs flexibility due to inconclusive parking metrics and for those participating businesses disadvantaged by narrower sidewalks in the 500 and 600 blocks of Victoria Street.”
“We would like to see a new, seasonal extended patio model roll out this spring, with collaboration between the City of Kamloops and liquor licensing staff.”
As part of the city’s plan, business owners will be required to pay $700 per displaced parking stall for the seven-month patio season from April 1 to October 31, though that fee will be cut in half for 2023.
It will be up to businesses to build and maintain these extended patios, starting next year, while also covering the costs of installing and removing any sidewalk extensions every year, a move which Reimer says could deter some.
“Are people going to participate if the cost doesn’t make sense?” he said. “The city’s plan needs to be that it does offset some of the loss of parking revenue and some of the loss of parking, but it can’t be so cumbersome that businesses are going to say I’m not… I can’t afford that or I’m not doing that.”
“I personally haven’t priced out what a pop up patio costs but they’re doing it in other cities. We should be able to do it too but it has to make sense for a business to incur those costs to remove it at the end of the year.”
Speaking Wednesday afternoon, Rod Martin, the City’s Planning and Development Manager, told NL News he is not sure what it could cost to install and remove extended patios each year.
“It depends on the design of the patio and whether they are actually going to placing their patio in the parking stalls or whether its going to have the bypass the sidewalk,” Martin said.
“There will be a lot of flexibility with it, it will just have to meet our safety standards.”
Martin says the $700 fee is meant to offset some of the lost parking revenue, estimated to be roughly $15,000 a month, or $375 per stall.
A regular sidewalk patio at Caffè Motivo on Victoria Street in Kamloops
“If they don’t want to pay the additional cost for the extended patio, they still have the option of the regular patios that take up only a portion of the sidewalk and don’t require the use of any of the parking stalls,” Martin said, noting that comes with an $80 application fee and $40 annual renewal cost.
“You need to ensure that you’ve got 1.5 metre clear walking area along the sidewalk. It can’t be encumbered with tree wells and planters and fire hydrants and stuff like that, it has to be clear where you can walk through it or have a wheelchair going through it.”
