Winnipeg, MB – Council approved adopting temporary patio registration as a permanent program on Mach 21, 2024, allowing the City to continue offering seasonal patio registration to businesses without any administrative fees.
The City is now accepting registrations for summer operation in the temporary patio program that will allow eligible businesses to operate a temporary patio space from April 1, 2024 to October 31, 2024.
“We’re already known for our beautiful summers and we have an opportunity to be known as a patio city,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham. “The type of city that supports our local businesses and really embraces being outside in the summer. The temporary patio registration program has been a really important tool to support businesses coming out of the pandemic, so offering this program on a permanent basis offers predictability to those businesses moving forward.”
“This program has shown that we can find ways to cut red tape for businesses and maintain the right amount of oversight on something like operating a patio,” said Councillor Sherri Rollins, Chairperson of the Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development. “I’m thrilled that we’re able to continue offering this program without charging fees for opening up a patio each year. Providing outdoor service can be such a great source of revenue for Winnipeg restaurants.”
The cost of offering the program free of charge is approximately $110,000 per year. The City began offering the temporary patio program in May 2020 as a way to allow eligible businesses to quickly and safely establish temporary patio spaces that complied with public health orders at the time. The City has continued to offer the program to local businesses, opening registration biannually for winter and summer operation. There were 41 local businesses that registered for the temporary patio program in 2023.
Businesses that wish to participate in the temporary patio program beginning on April 1, 2024, will need to submit a new registration form. Previous temporary patio registrations will not carry forward.
For more information about the program, including details on the registration process, see: winnipeg.ca/temporarypatio.