Toronto city council votes to extend patio season into spring 2021

Erin Horrocks-Pope Published Friday, Oct. 30, 2020

Curb lane patios and sidewalk dining became a regular sight this summer thanks to the CafeTO program. With indoor dining restricted until at least Nov. 7 to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the program has been extended into next spring. (Beach Village BIA).

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With indoor dining currently prohibited throughout Toronto due to modified provincial Stage 2 restrictions, the city will be extending the patio season to next spring in order to provide outdoor dining throughout the winter.

The CafeTO program was introduced this summer to help restaurants and bars create patios or expand them to allow for more customers while adhering to physical distancing guidelines. Patios sprung up throughout the city taking over curb lanes, sidewalks, parking lots and rooftops.

On Tuesday, Toronto City Council unanimously voted to move forward with winter patio recommendations put forward by Mayor John Tory aimed at helping restaurants and bars during the winter months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is the right thing to do. While we have some limitations with respect to patios in curb lanes and ensuring we can safely clear our roads from the snow, there are opportunities that allow us to continue the success of patios through the winter in areas, such as sidewalks and private property including parking lots,” Tory said in a statement last week.

Brad Bradford, councillor for Beaches – East York, views the CafeTO extension as a way for the city to experiment with taking a different approach to winter living in Toronto.

“Right now, I don’t think we’ve cracked how to make the most of our cold winters in the city,” Bradford said.

“Locally we have fantastic initiatives like Winter Stations and Light Up the Beach. But on our main streets and in our communities, I think we could do more to embrace the cold. It’s something that BIAs are thinking about to get people shopping and enjoying the main streets when temperatures get below freezing.”

The CafeTO curb lane patios took over Queen Street East in the Beaches this summer and are still getting a lot of traffic in the final weeks before the teardown on Nov. 9 in preparation for snow removal.

In addition to bringing residents together, CafeTO was a huge opportunity for members of the BIA to make back some of the revenue they’ve lost out on due to COVID-19 according to Beach Village BIA Executive Director, Anna Sebert.

“It brings so much more vibrancy and liveliness to the street. Curb lane patios were absolutely amazing this summer for our members. It’s sad to see them go but I don’t think they would have been used as much as they were in the summertime. The new extension with sidewalk patios and private patios is going to help quite a lot of our members. It won’t be everything for them, but it’s great news,” she said.

Sebert has already been contacted by several local businesses about the extension and is anticipating some very creative winterized patios to show up over the next weeks.

“It’s not going to be the same atmosphere as summer, but it will still be good. It makes things feel more inviting and more friendly in a time where people can obviously be really nervous about eating or drinking anywhere.”