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The city report indicates the new fee structure is designed to “incentivize parking patio operation” and bring fees into closer alignment with the actual costs of providing for reserved parking spaces.

Under the new structure, businesses were to pay about $7,780 to reserve three metered spaces for six months, compared to about $12,660 under the old model. Council voted in favour of reducing the new fee a further 20 per cent to $6,207 to “acknowledge the benefit” of the patios.

The program has been “operating well,” with 19 sidewalk cafés and two parking patios licensed in 2016, but uptake was “lower than anticipated” and stakeholders said the hooding fees were “prohibitive,” the report states.

But some say costs need to come down further to get businesses interested.

Randy Pshebylo, executive director of the Riversdale BID, said the patios would be more attractive to business owners if the spaces were provided free of charge during the first few years of operation, with business owners paying an annual administration fee rather than covering the ongoing cost of the parking spaces.

“The fish aren’t biting at these rates,” Pshebylo said, noting businesses also have to cover the costs of constructing and maintaining equipment for a parking patio. The BID feels the city could re-examine fees once operations are established and initial costs dealt with, he said.

Only one out of 12 potential locations in the Riversdale BID has constructed a parking patio, he noted. The BID feels if the patio space is open to the public, costs should be shared between the owner and the city, he added.

The city’s community standards division is reviewing the fee structure for the temporary reserved parking, which will include further examination of whether fees are appropriate. A report is expected back by 2017.

mmodjeski@postmedia.com

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