Hamilton city council has approved a motion allowing restaurants to apply to create “outdoor dining districts” when they’re able to reopen.
Councillors voted 13 to 1, with one councillor abstaining, to give restaurants an opportunity to have communal outdoor seating that could accommodate physical distancing amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Those dining areas would occupy extra space that could potentially lead to street or parking lot closures for a period of several months.
Ward 2 Coun. Jason Farr introduced the motion, saying Hamilton’s restaurant sector has been devastated by the pandemic. “We want to get as many of these 18,000 restaurant workers back to work as soon as possible, and expanding the footprints is the way to do that,”