A second proposal for a patio at MacLaren’s Sports Bar, on the corner of Elgin and MacLaren streets, has kicked up a storm of controversy.
Bar owner Brian Karam again applied to the city’s transportation committee in early September for an encroachment permit to create a 42-seat patio space on city owned property, after a previous proposal failed in 2007.
The recent proposal was taken to the transportation committee by River Ward Coun. Marie McRae, rather than MacLaren’s local ward Coun. Diane Holmes.
On Aug. 30, Holmes wrote a letter to the transportation committee saying she was “appalled” at the way Karam’s patio proposal had been handled. In the letter, Holmes says the proposal was automatically refused in 2007 due to residential properties being within 30 metres of MacLaren’s. Holmes later requested city staff undertake a survey of residences adjacent to the bar.
Flyers were then distributed to residences near MacLaren’s, informing them of the patio proposal and requesting responses. Within 24 hours, 50 residents stated their opposition, while seven responded favourably.
Despite a proposed closing time of 11 p.m. on the patio and a ban on amplified sound, results of the survey still indicated that most residents didn’t want the patio. As a result, Holmes “could not support a patio at this location,” nor could she request that the city’s encroachment bylaw to be waived.
She says the recent reconsideration of Karam’s proposal is “most unusual.” Holmes insists that the transportation committee showed a “total lack of respect” for the city’s decision making process.
Dalhousie Community Association president Eric Darwin has also voiced his concern over the way MacLaren’s patio was proposed. In a letter to the transportation committee, Darwin expressed the association’s support for a review of the city of Ottawa’s encroachment bylaw.
Darwin says he supports this review despite the fact that the Dalhousie association is typically concerned with issues only relating to the west side of downtown.
He says that permitting Karam to build a patio despite his previous rejection would open a “second route to the same destination”, creating an unstable precedent for any future unsuccessful applicants.
The Centretown Citizens Community Association has voiced similar objections to the revival of Karam’s proposal. Instead it supports a “complete review of the patio application system.”
Capital Coun. Clive Doucet says the patio application policy should be made simpler and faster by approving or disapproving within 60 days of request.
Although Doucet’s proposal only applies to patios of five tables or less, Karam said in an interview that he fully supports the councillor’s intention to change the application process.
Another survey of residents who live 90 metres away from MacLaren’s is to be conducted. The transportation committee has since told city staff to review Karam’s 2007 application, and to report back to the committee in November.