Montreal slashes terrasse permit costs for downtown restaurants
Montreal is sharply reducing the cost of terrasse permits for downtown restaurants and cafés in an effort to make the option more financially viable and help revitalize the city’s core.
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada announced the measure on Thursday alongside downtown restaurant owners.
“Montreal is a better city because we have terrasses,” Martinez Ferrada told reporters. “We don’t want the cost of the permit to be an obstacle.”
Restaurant owners have long complained permits to set up a terrasse on the public domain run into the tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the size, the municipal property evaluation and duration of the permit requested.
Under the new program, restaurants in the downtown core will now pay $1.14 per square foot of terrasse space, while those on the outskirts will pay $0.56 per square foot. The rates are in addition to a $150 base fee.
The city cited the example of a restaurant on Ste-Catherine St. W. that previously paid $11,000 for the season and will now pay $1,400.
The new pricing will be in effect until 2030.
“It’s a major reduction that will have a direct impact,” said Martinez Ferrada, who is also the mayor of the Ville-Marie borough. “We have a lot of construction sites (downtown) … it’s important we add measures that make restaurants want to be there.”
The mayor was joined for the announcement by Ferreira Café general manager Sandra Ferreira.
Ferreira made headlines two years ago in what became known as “terrasse-gate,” when fire prevention officers ordered four Peel St. establishments to clear their packed terrasses during Grand Prix weekend over fire code breaches.
“I am ashamed for my city,” Ferreira said at the time.
Ferreira said Thursday she has put the ordeal behind her and feels the city’s relationship with downtown restaurateurs has improved since.
“I’m very happy to see things are changing in the right direction,” she said, adding she views the new measure as a “gesture of openness and communication.”
Asked about the Grand Prix incident, Montreal police chief Richard Liebmann said the department has shifted toward a more collaborative approach with restaurants over the past two years.
“Public safety is our No. 1 priority and always will be,” Liebmann said. “But instead of using repression, we’re doing it in a more collaborative way — and with much better communication.”
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