As restrictions in restaurants, cafes and pubs ease up this week, Richmond city council will look at expediting permits for patios and keeping permitting costs low.
The provincial health officer will be allowing food and drink establishments to operate at a 50-per-cent capacity - tables will be restricted to six people and must be two metres apart.
The motion to council – put forward by Coun. Kelly Greene – points out physical distancing measures will most likely need to be in place until a treatment or vaccine is available for COVID-19.
Greene told the Richmond News that she’s seeing a lot of creativity on how businesses are adapting to overcome obstacles put up by the pandemic, but they can only do so much.
In the meantime, food and drink establishments are struggling since for the past two months they’ve only been allowed to do takeout and delivery.
“I think we have to be adaptive as a city,” she said.
Greene pointed out social distancing isn’t a short-term phenomenon, and the city needs to “figure it out.”
With fewer people driving, parking spots can be taken over for patio space, she added. Or, for example, areas like the bricked area in front of the Britannia craft brewery, currently not allowed as a patio space, could be transformed to accommodate tables for restaurant service.
Greene has also put forward a motion to lobby the provincial government to have a faster, low-cost liquor licence application process for businesses adding patio space, something she said should go hand-in-hand with expanding patios.
“We don’t have control over (liquor licenses) – we can only lobby,” Greene said.
Even with larger patio areas, food and drink establishments will most likely still be below their normal capacity, she added.
Both these items will be dealt with at council’s committee meeting on Tuesday.
