A recommendation to waive Ottawa’s sidewalk width requirement for a Centretown pub patio is raising questions about upcoming provincial accessibility legislation.
Pub Italia’s summer patio has existed since 2000, but since Preston Street was reconstructed, it no longer meets the city’s minimum sidewalk width of 1.8 metres.
The trees and streetlights on the sidewalk in front of the pub restrict the available walking space between the patio and street furnishings.
Ottawa’s transportation committee hesitated to waive the minimum sidewalk regulation for the pub because the city is expecting new accessibility standards from the province.
Coun. Marianne Wilkinson, chair of the transportation committee, said the patio will have to comply with the updated sidewalk requirements when they are released.
But Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes sees a problem.“To say that we should be working now to meet an act that is not yet established is somewhat of a quandary.”
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act sets specific standards that businesses and organizations in the province have to follow to identify, remove and prevent barriers to accessibility. The goal of the act is to have a barrier-free province by 2025.
The standards target five specific areas, including customer service, employment, information and communications, transportation and the built environment.
The built environment standard, which addresses barriers to buildings and outdoor spaces, is the only regulation that hasn’t been finalized and made into law.
“Are you expecting the act to be retroactive?” Holmes asked the committee.
The answer was unclear.
“I don’t understand how there could be any confusion,” says David Lepofsky, chair of the disability advocacy group that fought for the legislation.
“The government has been clear for several years now that the initial built environment standard will only deal with new buildings or major renovations to existing buildings.”
Although the standard isn’t finalized, the provincial government is looking at accessibility on a go-forward basis, confirmed Sandy Mangat at the Ministry of Community and Social Services.
But Lepofsky says the requirements and standards of the provincial accessibility act are enforcing what the Human Rights Code already requires.
He says municipalities should try to deal with accessibility issues right now, even if the initial standards aren’t retroactive, because inaccessibility is damaging to businesses.
Roughly 1.7 million Ontarians have a disability, says Lepofsky, and the number is growing as the population ages.
“So if your business doesn’t meet the needs of (disabled) people who want to get in and buy your products now, it’s going to get even worse in the longer term.”
The transportation committee decided the Pub Italia patio should be allowed to stay at its current size and asked staff to review the Preston Street reconstruction design plan to make sure that the trees and streetlights were put in the right place.
Although the upcoming provincial accessibility standards will only apply to new infrastructure, the committee’s decision will not exempt the patio in the future.
“Patio licenses aren’t given indefinitely,” staff told the committee. “They are only seasonal, and so they would have to apply year after year.”