By Hugo Rodrigues
Merchants on Preston Street are hoping Pub Italia’s proposed sidewalk patio will become part of a larger rebirth.
“The seeds have been sown for the redevelopment of the street,” says Preston Street Business Improvement Area (BIA) president Peter Harris.
Creating a wider sidewalk in front of Pub Italia was endorsed at the BIA meeting on Nov. 25, where other merchants gave pub owner Joe Cotroneo their support.
The association will hire a civil engineer to report on the details of widening the sidewalk, says Harris.
“The lack of space (on the sidewalk for a patio) is one reason for studying this,” he says. “But we are also trying to improve the decorative aspects of Preston.”
If implemented, the patios will create a zig-zag sidewalk that turns into the parking lane in front of some businesses and then merges back with the existing sidewalk.
By using Pub Italia as a prototype for the sidewalk patio idea, it will keep “a whole bunch of people from getting involved and then all going down if the idea doesn’t work,” says Harris.
Cotoroneo’s sidewalk patio idea originated with a trip to Kingston in the summer of 1998, where such patios were first developed in the mid-1980’s. “After some of the first patios went in, the response was amazing,” says Cotroneo.
Former Kingston city councillor Helen Cooper was an active member in approving the first Kingston sidewalk patios. She continues to support the idea, but knows from Kingston’s experience they’re not always successful.
“You need the right atmosphere . . . the right scale of buildings. It has to be the kind of place where people can sit outside and not feel vulnerable,” she says.
The most successful patios in Kingston are within two-blocks of the main market square. In the summer they attract many of the tourists who visit the area’s historic buildings and waterfront.
“They’re a huge asset,” says Cooper. “The best part of it is just watching the world go by . . . this one area works because it’s a really fun place to sit.”
Once the first few patios proved a success, Cooper says the city entered a “patio mania,” with patios popping up everywhere. Many of these patios have since been removed because of poor location.
“People don’t like sitting on a patio without pedestrian activity on the street,” she says. “There isn’t the same festive atmosphere.”
By making the patio a key part of Preston Street’s redevelopment, the BIA may be setting Pub Italia up for what could be an expensive mistake, says Cooper. They need to ensure there is sufficient pedestrian traffic on Preston for people to want to sit outside.
Harris agrees with Cooper, stating that the BIA’s endorsement of the idea still means Pub Italia is responsible for attracting customers to its patio. “Just because you have a capital expense doesn’t mean that everyone will go down there.”
Harris is confident sidewalk patios will work on Preston. “We’re already known for quality food. (Patios) will just increase the access to it.”
Pub Italia’s proposal has support at all levels of local government, says Harris. In contrast, the situation in Kingston drew heated debate.
“The contention was widening the sidewalk versus the removal of (curbside) parking,” she says. “It pitted business against business,” based on their need for customer parking or their desire for a patio.
Once the City of Kingston replaced or compensated business owners for lost parking, Cooper says most objections were dropped.
“Most of the objections were reactions to other issues and usually irrational,” says Cooper.
If the report is presented to the regional transportation committee in February 2000, Pub Italia may have a patio by the summer of 2001.