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The City of Vancouver summer patio program launched in early March 2022, complete with 34 pages of guidelines and other barriers, raised the eyebrows and ire of industry champions.
The Vancouver summer patio license guidelines, say industry representatives, will mire businesses in red tape and increase costs in a time when Vancouver restaurants and cafes need help recovering financially from the pandemic.
“It’s going to require actual architectural drawings for your outside and your inside, which is going to cost about $3,000 and a lot of time, if you can find an architect, plus $283 and an application fee … plus square footage charges”, Ian Tostenson, President of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association, told Global News. “It’s completely tone deaf”, Tostenson added, saying that “The city of Vancouver doesn’t understand that we are still in a pandemic, and they’re sort of living in another world over there on W. 12th.”
Changes to Summer Patio Program
City of Vancouver revamped the summer patio program within a week of its launch date in response to criticism. Those changes include:
Simplified drawing requirements. For first-time applicants and those applying to make changes to their temporary patio license, need only submit an accurate, scaled drawing (by computer or by hand), instead of a professional architectural drawing. Businesses that had a temporary patio license and are not changing occupancy limits, may resubmit the same drawing they used for their temporary patio license.
Capacity flexibility
Businesses can transfer up to 50% of their capacity from indoors to a patio.
Extension of curbside patios in front of neighbouring businesses
Curbside patios may now extend across one neighbouring business frontage.
Summer patio licenses are in effect from April 1 – October 31.
Read more about the City of Vancouver Summer Patio Program.
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Our BC liquor license consultants can save your restaurant or café time and money in applying for the City of Vancouver Summer Patio Program. Application rejection is often caused by missing or incomplete information or ignorance of guidelines and requirements. Get the Thrive team on your side to increase your probability of application approval.
