Transportation Committee
and Council/et au Conseil
03 March 2012 / le 03 mars 2012
Submitted by/Soumis par : Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager/Directrice
municipale adjointe, Planning and Infrastructure/Urbanisme et Infrastructure
Contact Person/Personne resource: Ermis Durofil, Program Manager
Right of
Way By-laws, Permits and Inspections/Réglements, Permis et Inspections
Planning and
Growth Management/Urbanisme et gestion de la croissance
613-580-2424 x 13764, Ermis.Durofil@ottawa.ca
SUBJECT:
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OBJET :
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renonciation aux FRAIS DE PERMIS
D’EMPIÉTEMENT POUR TERRASSE extérieure durant les travaux de construction |
REPORT
RECOMMENDATION
That Transportation Committee recommend
Council delegate authority to the General Manager of Planning and Growth
Management to waive outdoor patio encroachments fees during road
reconstruction.
RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT
Que le Comité des transports recommande au Conseil de déléguer le
pouvoir au directeur général,
Urbanisme et Gestion de la croissance de renoncer aux frais
de permis d’empiètement pour terrasse extérieure durant les travaux de
réfection de la chaussée.
BACKGROUND
Following the approval of the report dealing specifically
with temporarily waiving encroachment fees for the outdoor patios on road allowance
adversely affected by the reconstruction of Bank Street (insert link please), Transportation
Committee directed staff to report back to Committee with a recommendation on
how to deal with patio fees in future situations.
This report deals with this direction to staff
and also provides an update to Committee regarding two separate but related
directives. Firstly, staff were directed
to provide an interim status report following the approval of the Outdoor Patio
Fee Reduction Pilot Project. Secondly, Committee requested information on how
temporary outdoor patio encroachments fees were originally established, and
that staff provide a comparison of what other cities are charging for such fees
relating to outdoor patios.
DISCUSSION
Waiver of Fees during construction
Current provisions in the Encroachment By-law do not anticipate situations where the use of a patio may be adversely affected over an extended period of time due to the reconstruction of the roadway, sidewalk and/or boulevards abutting the patio. While the patio may physically be installed during construction, thus subject to the daily fee, often the patio cannot be fully enjoyed due to construction noise and dust. In the past, patio operators were required to seek political support, normally the Ward Councillor, in order to seek relief from patio encroachment fees during the construction period, as staff does not have the delegated authority to waive the fee. A report to City Council, via the Transportation Committee, has been the vehicle to obtain the required fee waiver. Staff, to date, has been in favour of such waivers and has worked with the Ward Councillor on the required motions and/or reports. However, this process can be lengthy and an inefficient use of resources for all parties.
In order to streamline the process, it is recommended that the Encroachment By-law (2003-446, as amended) be amended to authorize the General Manager to waive the applicable daily Rental fee in Schedule “B” of the By-law in cases where a patio is abutting on a City of Ottawa highway (either sidewalk or boulevard) for the period during which the particular highway is undergoing reconstruction. It is recommended that the waiving of these patio encroachment rental fees only apply during highway reconstruction activities such as the replacement of sewer mains or during light rail construction, but not during regular maintenance activities such as pot hole filling. Upon approval, staff together with the City Clerk and Solicitor Department will prepare the appropriate amending by-law and process it for enactment by Council.
Outdoor Patio Fee
Reduction Pilot Project
As a result of a motion tabled and approved at the May 25th, 2011 meeting of the Transportation Committee, the regular patio encroachment fees for outdoor patios on Preston Street were reduced by nearly half. By agreeing with arguments put forward by the Preston Street BIA, in that the reduction in fees would encourage the establishment of new patios, the regular fees (i.e. $1.30/m2/day) were reduced to $0.55/ m2/day for a period of two years beginning in the spring of 2011.
To date, the reduction in fees has not resulted in the establishment of any new outdoor patios within the Preston Street BIA area, but has resulted in a loss of permit fee revenue of approximately $8,000. The Pilot Project is scheduled to run for another full year, at the end of which a final report will be provided to Transportation Committee.
Initial Establishment of Outdoor Patio Fees
The current fee for outdoor patio encroachments on City Road Allowance, as with other temporary surface encroachments, was originally based on the equivalent charges for a typical parking spot created on a City street. In 2003, when the Encroachment By-law was approved and enacted by Council, the charge for parking a vehicle on City Road Allowance was $2.00 per hour. Taking into consideration that parking meter rates are normally only in effect during a regular 8 hour business day, a typical 2.6m x 6m (15.6 m2) parking spot would subsequently generate $16 per day. Converting the charge for the 15.6 m2 spot, results in a per square meter rate of $0.96/day. Thus, in order to ensure that encroachment charges were equitable, this per meter fee was adopted by City Council for encroachments such as those related to construction and outdoor patios. It should be noted that, other than cost of living increases applied as part of Council’s yearly Budget considerations, temporary surface encroachment fees have not been increased and are now below that of the parking rate equivalent (i.e. parking rates are now at $1.53/ m2/day versus temporary surface encroachments at $1.30/ m2/day).
As a comparison of fees currently charged by other municipalities, the following table highlights the annual rate for an outdoor patio encroachment on municipal road allowance. For comparison purposes an area equivalent to a parking spot of 15.6 m2 was utilized.
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Jurisdiction |
Annual
Rate* |
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Vancouver |
$4,180. |
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Montreal |
$3,710 |
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Toronto |
$3,690. |
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Ottawa |
$3,400 |
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Calgary |
$3,150. |
*Although some jurisdictions,
like Ottawa, only charge encroachment fees during a specified patio season, for
accurate comparison all rates were extrapolated over one full year.
Given that the fees currently being charged by the City of Ottawa are in line with those of other major Canadian municipalities, and that the Ottawa fees may be revisited at the end of the 2012 season as part of the Outdoor Patio Fee Reduction Pilot Project final review, no fee changes are being proposed at this time.
CONSULTATION
This report has been prepared with information and advice from By-law Services, Legal Services, Realty Services, Planning and Growth Management, and City Operations.
All Councillors have received notice of the recommended changes to the Encroachment By-law (No. 2003-446).
COMMENTS BY THE WARD
COUNCILLOR
Not applicable, as this is a City-wide report.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no legal impediments to implementing the recommendation of this report.
RISK
MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
No risk management implications have been identified for this report, as it is for information.
CITY STRATEGIC PLAN
This report has no direct impacts on the City’s strategic priorities or directions identified for the current Term of Council.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no direct financial implications.
ACCESSIBILITY IMPACTS
This report is administrative in nature and has no associated accessibility impacts.
DISPOSITION
Upon approval of the Recommendation, Staff together with the City Clerk and Solicitor Department will prepare the required by-law to amend the Encroachment By-law and will arrange for processing and enactment by Council. Further, staff will continue to monitor the Outdoor Patio Fee Reduction Pilot Project and report to Committee at the end of the 2012 patio season.