John Maxwell knows how much Torontonians love patios.
The back patio of Allen's, a popular restaurant and pub he's operated on the Danforth since 1987, brings in half the establishment's revenue, despite being closed half the year and seating fewer people than the interior does. Without the patio, he says, “we'd close. No question.”
But Mr. Maxwell, a 30-year veteran of the city's hospitality industry, was not surprised to hear about its latest move: a moratorium on new back patios in the heart of the city. It's just one more example of Toronto the Buzzkill: Keep it down, keep the party inside and mind the neighbours.
Last month a harmonized zoning bylaw passed at council's final pre-election session, putting a damper on restaurant development in the downtown core.
The bylaw puts the kibosh not only on new back patios south of Bloor and Danforth between Victoria Park and the Humber River, it also bids adieu to upper-storey restaurants and eateries larger than 300 square metres of floor space.
To pursue any of these developments, property owners now have to apply for exemptions.
Mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi sees this attitude as stifling. “We have to loosen up a bit,” he says. “We're not sleepy little Toronto of the sixties and seventies.”
“It's a most inhospitable environment,” Mr. Maxwell says of the city. “Profoundly inhospitable.”
He rattles off a list of factors working against anyone hoping to set up shop: Booze is expensive, garbage pickup and delivery vehicles are a hassle and don't get anyone started on the vagaries of Ontario liquor licences.
“These are all absolutely huge issues for the industry, and there's zero recognition given to most of them. Why does the city and province take a dim view of the hospitality industry?”
“We're actually helping the city of Toronto, as far as the culinary landscape,” says Pizzeria Libretto proprietor Max Rimaldi. He says his popular restaurant on Ossington is becoming a draw for tourists – “'cause why else would you want to come to Toronto?
“That's a big question for our next mayor. ... It's that mediocrity Toronto has come to know. ‘Let's just be average.' That's ridiculous.”
Mr. Rimaldi has had to start cutting off Pizzeria Libretto's lineup when the wait grows past two hours. And that happens every Saturday, he says.
Another storey – even 30 more seats, he says, to add to the 60 he has now – would help. He has been negotiating with the city over expanding to the second floor for almost a year now, and Mr. Rimaldi says the legal bills are closing in on $10,000.
But for some, anything beyond “average” comes at a different kind of cost. At an Ontario Municipal Board hearing in June, Parkdale residents vented their frustrations with Wrong Bar – everything from a messy back alley to music whose bass could be felt vibrating into their homes well into the wee hours. Resident Julian Humphreys recalled dealing with “people screaming down the street in the middle of the night.”
Ingrid Paulson loved living on Ossington Avenue at first. That was until the outpouring of post-bar patrons took over her nights.
One night , she was startled by the sound of firecrackers being set off by a bar down the street near midnight.
“When we went down to tell them to stop, they were like, ‘What do you mean? It's Ossington.' … It tells me that there's a disconnect – that people were starting to think of it as a club area, and neighbours be damned.”
Those behind the bylaw say it's the best way the city could address a booming bar-and-restaurant scene that has revitalized some of the seedier strips while encroaching on previously quiet residential territory. This, they argue, will let partiers coexist with those who'd rather stay at home in peace and quiet.
