City considering changes to its outdoor patio noise bylaw

Hamilton is among a small number of Ontario cities with a bylaw banning outdoor music on commercial patios, according to a city review of 15 other cities in the province on how they deal with outdoor patio noise.

The only cities that had an outright ban on outdoor entertainment, like Hamilton, were Burlington, St. Catharines and Vaughan.

I'm not on for a dance club outdoors, pumpin' up the jamuntil all hours.- Coun. Jason Farr, Ward 2 councillor

City of Hamilton planners consulted 15 other Ontario cities in how they deal with outdoor patio noise in order to study options for what to do about places like Sarcoa on Hamilton's waterfront, where neighbours nearby and across the lake in Burlington have complained about the amplified music the restaurant plays.

Sarcoa has filed a lawsuit for $15 million against the city and the Hamilton Waterfront Trust, which the restaurant leases space from.Owner Sam Destro has said that having live music and DJs on the patio is key to the success of the "Miami Beach-style" business, he said.

Councillors on Hamilton's planning committee on Tuesday called that restaurant and its concerns the "elephant in the room". Councillors voted at that meeting to hold a meeting in October to discuss the options and hear from the public.

'Pumpin' up the jam until all hours'

A current Hamilton bylaw, going back 30 years, prohibits entertainment, dancing and live or recorded music on commercial patios.

Restaurant owners can petition via a public consultation process to be allowed to play music, which has happened in a number of cases.

The city will now consider a variety of options ranging from keeping the status quo to deleting the bylaw and allowing music and entertainment on outdoor patios.

CouncillorsChad Collins and Brenda Johnsonsaid they didn't think a change was needed to the citywide process.

But Coun. Jason Farr, who represents downtown Hamilton, said the bylaw has shown itself to cast a too-wide net for things like putting a television outside to broadcast World Cup games or something like an "acoustic trio."

"I'm not on for a dance club outdoors, pumpin' up the jamuntil all hours," said Farr.

Invitation to Burlington neighbours

Farr was in favour of the planned public meeting in October, and said he hopes not just nearby residents and patio owners come out.

Perhaps the meeting could include perspectives from across the water, Farr said, because those applications for exemptions to the bylaw don't take into account any opinions from other jurisdictions.

"Come on down, (Coun.) Rick Craven and some of your friends from your ward in Burlington," Farr said.

Farr said from his conversations with people in Burlington, there's some room for negotiation on noise along the waterfront.

"They don't have any expectation that it'd be crickets after 10," he said.

Patios large and small

The city's patios range in size:

• There are large ones like Barangas on the Beach with an outdoor capacity of 963 people and Sarcoa, with a capacity outdoors of 350 people.
• Then there are medium-sized patios like Ancaster Mill with room for 86 people outside and the Boston Pizza in Waterdown with a 60-person outdoor capacity.
• The smallest patios include The Brain on James Street North with space for 12, and La Luna on Concession with room for 16.

(See a list of the city's patios that are licensed to serve alcohol.)

Most of the cities that Hamilton consulted have rules for how far a commercial outdoor patio must be from residential zones.

City staff said they need more time to evaluate the impacts of those various options.

'A Hess Street effect coming toLockeStreet'

Coun. Aidan Johnson, who represents Ward 1, said that his constituents near Locke Street South have been grappling with issues of noise, and a worry he's heard of "a Hess Street effect coming to Locke Street," he said.

It's a complicated issue, Johnson said.

A small minority of local people are opposed to any kind of noise, he said, but he thought the majority recognize that it's good for Locke Street to be busy and active and vital.

"I don't know the best way to protect the neighbourhood from noise," Johnson said.

"It's all about that sort of grey area of balancing," he said. "How do we strike the right balance?"