For the first time in years, Newmarket restaurant owner Allan Cockburn won't be offering his patrons a patio.
His hopes for an expanded patio space at the back door of his Olde Village Free House on Main Street were denied by the Town of Newmarket. The expanded patio initiative was temporarily offered during pandemic lockdowns, but now some restaurants are having to scale back their patios.
Cockburn said the town's offered alternative did not work for his restaurant and was not worth it. Despite the town's rejections, Cockburn said he is not giving up on the battle to have an expanded patio space again.
“I’m not going to stop fighting,” Cockburn said, adding that more patio space is “good for the town. I think it’s good for the street, restaurant and non-restaurant businesses.”
Cockburn has garnered more than 1,050 signatures on an online petition on change.org asking the town to bring back the patio program it had in the pandemic. The program allowed restaurants to expand patios, including on parking spaces, streets, sidewalks and laneways, in a bid to help restaurants struggling due to lockdowns. That program, considered temporary, ended this year.
The changes also spelled the end of the patio for Chip + Malt in an alley laneway connecting Main to public parking and Riverwalk Commons.
With those patios removed, the Grey Goat losing its patio over bylaw infraction disputes, and the town seeking a new business for the former Cachet Supper Club space, Cockburn said Newmarket is missing out on a lot of patios on Main Street this summer.
“Why are we restricting outdoor seating? If we’re trying to draw people to town, there’s not enough seating outside, people are going to go to Markham,” Cockburn said. “There’s a million places to go to try to get a seat.”
The town has maintained that it can no longer allow some patios to close off traffic access as it did during the pandemic. CAO Ian McDougall said it is not surprising to see public support for the patios, adding the town is a strong supporter of them.
“With the return to huge volumes of people, traffic and events and programming, it is the town’s responsibility to consider all public spaces, including the overall traffic, safety and pedestrian flow and the needs of all types of businesses downtown,” McDougall said. “The tough reality is every patio has a unique set of circumstances. The proposed and submitted patio application from the (Olde Village Free House) would have required the closure of a live lane within the parking lot and would not be feasible with traffic flow or fair to other businesses in the area.”
Despite the concerns, several restaurants on Main Street have set up patios this summer. The program is operating similarly to how it did pre-pandemic, with wooden patios extending onto sidewalks and some on-street parking spots, but not into laneways as was allowed in the pandemic.
Petition signers are backing the Olde Village Free House.
“Let's be real. We don't really need to have a lot of vehicle traffic down Main,” Michael John said in signing the petition. “Let the pub owners get their fair share of the people walking and enjoying the recent nice weather!”
Despite the complaints and some social media backlash, McDougall said the town feels it has struck a fair balance with the 2023 patio program but will undertake a review of it for next summer.
“The town supports the energy and life that our businesses, residents and visitors bring to the downtown. We are excited to offer a summer filled with events, concerts and programs,” McDougall said. “With continued investment, future development and improvements in the downtown, we will continue to support a vibrant, safe and prosperous Newmarket for all.”
As a board member of the BIA, Cockburn said he wants to fight during his term to bring back some version of the expanded patio program seen during the pandemic.
“The town did a fantastic problem with the patio program during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “In my opinion, we’re backing up the bus, and we shouldn’t be … I want to get a long-term plan for a patio program.”
