The city will allow restaurants and bars participating in its CafeTO program to have rain canopies after one entrepreneur took to social media to accuse bylaw officers of “enforcing the letter of the law instead of the spirit.”
Jen Agg, who owns several Toronto restaurants, posted a series of messages on Twitter over the weekend after she was told that she would have to remove an open canopy that had been installed outside her Dundas Street restaurant Rhum Corner to shelter diners from the rain.
In the posts, Agg said that bylaw officers were going around asking “thousands” of restaurants like hers to remove the canopies under the logic that they were effectively four-sided tents.
She then questioned whether any restaurants were even consulted about the policy, which she said was “profoundly stupid.
“There has been RECORD RAINFALL THIS SUMMER! Without these tents we would basically have to close Rhum and Swan any night it rains, which might mean we can’t make payroll,” she wrote.
So after all the shit restaurants have been through, because some bored loser complained about CafeTO tents (literally ONE PERSON) by-law officers are going around to ask thousands of restaurants to remove tents like this one that very effectively protect from rain/sun IM SO MAD pic.twitter.com/Y7sZClqISZ
— Jen Agg (@TheBlackHoof) August 14, 2021
The city’s CafeTO program states that any area that is covered by a “roof, canopy, tent, awning or other element, must have at least two full sides open to the outdoors.”
But the canopy that Agg was asked to remove was mostly open on four sides, outside of a small covered portion near its top.
In a statement posted to Twitter on Monday, Mayor John Tory said that he has heard from Agg and several other restauranteur about the importance of canopies and has asked staff to work to accommodate them as soon as possible.
“I've confirmed Transportation Services will not require #CafeTO operators to remove canopies on curb lanes provided they do not create accessibility, safety or sightline issues,” he promised, noting that the adaptability of the CafeTO program has been a big part of its success.
CaféTO is a great success story that has created hundreds of new patio spaces for restaurants across Toronto.
— John Tory (@JohnTory) August 16, 2021
Part of the program's success is how staff have worked to make it adaptable and respond to the industry. pic.twitter.com/Nf9VbTa8eg
CafeTO was launched in the spring of 2020 as a way to allow restaurants and bars to quickly open new or expanded patios during the pandemic.
This summer hundreds of restaurants and bars have set up patios on sidewalks and in curb lanes as part of the program.
