City staff will present a report to committee supporting MacLaren’s request for a patio, Wednesday.
The report says the pub should be allowed to set up a patio on the corner of Elgin and MacLaren streets, despite residents’ concerns about noise.
The report will be presented to the transportation committee by Nancy Schepers, the deputy city manager in charge of community sustainability. It says the patio meets all city standards except for the residential separation requirements, which will need to be waived.
The pub’s owner, Brian Karam, applied for a patio in 2006 but was denied because of the bylaw.
The report says, under the current proposal, the patio would operate from April to September. Music wouldn’t be allowed on the patio, and it would have to close each night by 11 p.m.
The report says Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes is opposed to the committee considering the proposal and to Karam’s “circumvention of the usual process” by going directly to the committee for a review of the application.
It also says she believes this will open the door for other applications to come forward “without the appropriate discussion and sensitivity to this as a local ward issue."