After a lengthy debate about whether to allow Hide + Seek Coffee to retain their outdoor patio license on Oak Bay Ave., the District of Oak Bay decided on Monday, July 8 that the coffee shop could continue serving customers outside.
Hide + Seek’s owners Jamie and Jesse Owens built the shop’s six-metre patio at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, after the province introduced a temporary expansion service area authorization, which allowed restaurants, coffee shops and food primary establishments to serve customers on public property. Oak Bay then began issuing temporary sidewalk and parking stall patio street occupancy permits to meet these new provincial rules.
Oak Bay’s mayor Kevin Murdoch says that permits were temporary measures to help businesses adhere to social distancing regulations. Now shop’s need to reapply to keep their patio permanently.
Business with small patios directly in front of their shopfront only need approval from municipal staff, while businesses with patios that extend beyond their frontage need council approval. Hide + Seek’s patio extends slightly in front of neighbouring Timeless Toys.
Owens submitted an application to the District of Oak Bay in December of last year to renew the shop’s patio. Council approved the application – only after the shop’s owners paid $1,500 in municipal fees.
“We only have to go to council because Oak Bay municipal works told us to put our patio here,” said Owens, who adds that she worked with staff to help her determine where to place it. “It seems unfair.”
Murdoch, however, says that, at the start of the pandemic, Oak Bay didn’t have the same patio regulations it does now.
“In 2020, we were doing everything we could just to help businesses,” he said. “There were no regulations or guidelines at that point as to where things could go.”
He adds that these fees supplement the cost of the work involved in looking into the issue.
“It covers part of the cost of staff doing their engineering work [and] consultations with the neighbouring businesses," said Murdoch.
Owens tried to convince council to waive the $1,500 fee, but her request was denied.
“We’re not legally allowed to waive a fee to an individual business,” says Murdoch. “Within the community charter, if you have fees attached to bylaw, you can’t waive one of those fees to an individual business. It gives a competitive advantage to one business over another.”
Part of the council debate also touched on patio’s appearance. Some of the councillors said it doesn’t suit Oak Bay’s character.
“It is made of cedar, which is weathering and getting grey and looking a little bit rough,” said Murdoch, who added that the patio’s high walls prevent passerby from seeing Hide + Seek patrons, which he says doesn’t add to the street’s vibrancy.
Owens says that the patio was simple and had decorative planter pots. She was frustrated that council was “trying to dictate” Oak Bay’s aesthetic.
Despite the controversy, council approved the patio in a five-two vote.
"I decided that the only good way to show them what Oak Bay looks like and what Oak Bay feels like is to show them," said Owens, who invited the public to help paint her patio.
Some 50 people visited Hide + Seek on Sunday to help to do just that.
“It was really nice to see people of different generations, different walks of life, interacting and having fun to do something that ended up being just so cute,” said Owens.
The patio is now bright pink and sports hand-painted art.
