Future of Guelph's downtown dining district up for debate Monday in special council meeting

A possible extension of Guelph's downtown dining district will be discussed Monday during a special council meeting as restaurants say closing it down will severely impact their businesses.

The dining district currently has parts of Macdonell and Wyndham streets closed to allow restaurants in the area to extend their patios into the streets. Many have set up fencing along with tables and chairs. In recent weeks, heaters have been added to a few of the patios.

In an open letter to city council last week, the businesses said as many as 100 employees could be laid off if the dining district wasn't allowed to remain open. 

While people could still dine indoors, "we feel keeping people outside is the safer option," the letter said.

The restaurant owners said they expected financial losses to start immediately.

"As owners we are desperately hoping something can be done to save these jobs and keep Guelph citizens safe outside during COVID-19," the letter says.

The city has said there is road work that needs to be done in the downtown core, including repairs and line painting and staff need to clear catch basins and storm drains.

Mayor Cam Guthrie tweeted that he has called a special meeting for Monday evening to discuss possibly extending the dining district as well as to take a look at temporary patios that have been allowed this summer for restaurants not in the dining district.

'They are begging us not to let it end'

The dining district started as a pilot project in July that was first going to only happen on weekends in the summer months, but quickly became open all week. At the end of August, it was announced the district would be extended until Sept. 21, which is Monday.

Coun. Dan Gibson, whose ward includes the downtown area where the dining district is located, says he will support extending the project.

"I think there's still a lot of nice weather left in the season," Gibson said in an interview, noting while it's a bit cooler lately, there are summer-like days into October and even November. "I don't see a need to close it down from a seasonal perspective."

Gibson says he's been to the district and talked to restaurant owners about the impact of the pandemic. He says many told him they had to dig deep into personal savings and cut staff to survive between March and June.

The district has allowed them to rebound, he said.

"They are begging us not to let it end," he said. "If we close down the dining district and indoor dining is restricted, these restaurants are looking at seven-plus months effectively being shut down. And when you hear reports of 100 staff being laid off on Monday if the dining district goes away, that's real, because quite frankly, their business will be cut down to a minute amount of indoor dining."

Dominique O'Rourke, a councillor for ward 6, says she is open to keeping the dining district open as long as it's still working for businesses.

She says she also wants to hear concerns from the community so the city can address those. If people are worried about late-night partying, for example, maybe the hours need to be cut back. 

"As long as it works for [businesses], and as long as the weather holds, then I think we should try and find ways to permit that," she said. "If they can have a couple more warm weekends where business is good, I'd like to make sure that they can do that."

Flexible streets?

Marty Williams, executive director at Downtown Guelph Business Association, says reaction to the district has been mixed, with some concerned about closing the streets to traffic all the time, including when the dining district isn't busy.

Williams says the association would like to see flexible streets, which would likely mean the patios would need to be scaled back slightly to allow traffic through the streets. 

He says other restaurants not within the dining district have extended patios into parking areas by using barricades to keep traffic away from people dining.

Those barricades, which are mandated by the city for patios located outside the dining district and which are taking over parking spaces, are large, costly and take a lot of time to install or move, Williams said.

He said if the city changes the requirements for those particular barriers to something less cumbersome, it would allow for more flexibility for all restaurants in the core, including allowing restaurants to go out into the streets on weekends, but scale back on less busy days.

"We're not saying shut it down. What we're saying is reconfigure it, tweak it in such a way that we can have open streets," he said. "It's not about shutting anything down. It's about making it function better than it currently is as demand slackens and the weather cools."

Risk of spreading COVID-19 is low

Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health reported on Friday there are 24 active cases of COVID-19 in Guelph. Dr. Nicola Mercer, medical officer of health for the public health unit, has reminded people that to keep community spread low, people need to be careful about socializing and increasing their bubbles.

Public health says dining should be considered a low risk activity. 

"If you are dining with someone in your social circle, practicing social distancing and hand hygiene, the risk is low, particularly when outdoors," Chuck Ferguson, manager of communications for the public health unit said in an email.

He noted even on patios, restaurant staff should be masked and contact with people is generally minimal because "they only spend a short time taking your order or serving your meal."

He also noted public health has "had no confirmed cases linked to the Guelph downtown dining area."