Gloomy winter days in Winnipeg make it hard to imagine a vibrant social scene on city sidewalks but in the summer that’s exactly what you’ll find downtown, in the Exchange District and on Corydon Avenue.
"It's awesome,” said Alfonso Maury, owner of Corrientes Argentine Pizzeria. “In a city that you sometimes have six months that you can't go outside to have a patio, and particularly in the downtown area, it's gorgeous."
Currently, restaurants with patios pay application fees to the city up front the first year they apply and then additional monthly fees whenever the patio is open.
Now, the legal services section of the city’s 2015 budget includes yet another fee.
New patio applications will require an additional $1,160 up front to cover city legal costs.
The city’s legal services department said the new fee fits in with city-wide plans to find savings in the city budget by recovering costs directly from people and businesses that utilize services.
"That's a big one and I think some business owners might have a problem with that,” said Melanie Andrushko of the Downtown Biz. “There's already quite a fee associated with the patios so anything above that might be a problem for some businesses - especially smaller ones."
Andrushko’s role at the Downtown Biz involves helping businesses navigate the red tape at city hall to obtain patio licenses.
She worries the new fee will mean fewer patios which is exactly the opposite of what she’d like to see.
"When it's vacant, it's not really that appealing and it can be dangerous sometimes too,” said Andrushko. “The more people out, the more action, the more vibrancy, the more people want to come down and be part of that."
