The Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s patio program may be ending soon, but the debate over its future hasn’t — and it resurfaced Tuesday night as councillors questioned whether patios should return before a full Queen Street plan is ready.
Should the town explore a short-term patio option until a long-term plan is in place? That became the central question as council carried the patio update at the committee of the whole planning meeting.
Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa asked councillors if there was any interest in revisiting earlier work on a permanent patio program “that could be used as a pilot or a stop gap” until the Queen Street master secondary plan gets underway. Staff say a possible start date for that plan is the second quarter of 2026.
“I’d like to have some feedback from my colleagues,” Zalepa said, adding he was not seeking direction. “What do we do in the meantime?”
Coun. Wendy Cheropita supported exploring a temporary option, saying residents continue to question why the patio program is ending.
“I’m getting a lot of resident resistance,” she said.
She noted a passive petition with more than 700 signatures of people that want to “save the patios” and reiterated the results of a town survey from late 2023 that found nearly 93 per cent of 394 respondents say they support the town’s patio program.
“I’d like to support what the lord mayor is saying and see if there’s more appetite around the table,” she said, adding that previous material developed by staff could support a short-term option. “They had a consultant that we all paid $50,000 for.”
“There’s some really good recommendations that came through about patio designs and paying for parking,” Cheropita added.
Coun. Andrew Niven agreed — “I think it’s a great program and I’ve been down there and seen the vibrancy it brings to Queen Street,” he said.
“But there needed to be some enhancements. And these are things that we’ve heard through that program.”
Other councillors were hesitant to reopen patio discussions.
Coun. Sandra O’Connor said she does not support exploring a temporary approach before the Queen Street plan is finished.
“I am not in favour with the ad hoc way of going about this.”
She said the plan is taking longer than she and others would have preferred but she would rather not “do things piecemeal” and does not want to see further planning on patios, “until we get our Queen Street plan in place.”
Coun. Maria Mavridis questioned whether patios should take priority with less than a year left in the term, noting council had just deferred the master business licence program earlier in the meeting because of staff workload.
“We always have been open to looking at future — but I think, at this point, is it a priority for council to put staff time on this, above other things?” she asked.
Niven said patios are different: “I think one benefit we have over, say the master business license, is we have a draft policy already done.”
He said the draft policy covers important pieces — including safety, design and paying per stall — but refinements would “make it more of a fulsome program until something is in place.”
Coun. Gary Burroughs said the patio issue should be addressed as the town moves into the Queen Street planning process.
“I was supportive the last time the lord mayor brought it up — and I still am,” he said.
Burroughs said any possible approach would need to be shaped by staff before council decides whether it “suits their needs” and, nearing the end of the discussion, asked “Has staff got clear direction on what we want?”
But Zalepa said “that wasn’t the intention.”
“It was to have a conversation,” he added.
