City council extends restaurant parklet project

Windsor city council voted unanimously in favour of a motion to extended the city's parklet pilot project, which allows restaurants to expand their serviceto patios on parking spots on city streets.

The project was introduced in the summer to expand restaurants' ability to serve customers outdoors in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The motion, introduced by Ward 4 Coun. Chris Holt, extends the project to Dec.31, 2020. The previous deadline was Nov.1.

Restaurants with parkletscan apply for the extension as long as theyaccept all responsibility and risk for any damage they may incur, including damage as a result of snow removal.

Michael Stojcic, owner of Panache Restaurant and Ultra Lounge on Pitt Street, says he has no problem with that.He wants tokeep his restaurant'sparklet up and running.

"I think that's great news, actually," he said of the extension. "Seeing the benefit we've had having this parklet this year, to extend it a little bit longer would do us a great favour."

Panache's parklet, shared with two other restaurants,now features an industrial-sizetent with heaters to keep patrons warm.

"It's very important, seeing that the inside has been limited somuch," Stojcic said. "We really rely heavily on even the extra 12 to 18 people we can fit inside of there."

Brian Yeomans, chair of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association, also welcomed the news.

"As the weather changes it'll get a little quieter out on the patios, but at the same time we want to make sure the businesses have as much time to capitalize on the added space as they can."

He saidthere are four parkletsdowntown, two of which are shared by three businesses each.

Before the extension, Yeomans says all theparklets would have had to come down in oneday. Now, restaurants have more time to dismantle them slowly over the nextfew months.

He added that the BIA would be keeping an eye on weather forecasts for snowand factorthat into decisions about how long to keep the parklets up.

But inStojcic's experience, even bad weather hasn't kept customers away from dining outside his restaurant.

"We've seen a couple of times this season people were sticking around even when it was raining," he said.