The municipality has determined what it believes to be a fair fee for sidewalk seating and the farmer鈥檚 market as part of a new bylaw regulating commercial use of public land that will be voted on later this month.
If approved by council, restaurants interested in sidewalk seating will need to pay a $100 permit fee each season, as well as a $25 fee per seat.
Mark Fercho, municipal chief administrative officer, said the perk of charging per chair is that it reduces the workload for municipal staff, who otherwise would have had to measure the sidewalk in front of each participating restaurant if the fee had been based on square footage, as had been previously suggested.
鈥淲e modelled the fees after fees in other municipalities and then looked closely at the Jasper market as well,鈥� said Fercho.
鈥淲hat we鈥檝e set is not the highest rate, but it is a little more towards the higher end, just given the conversations around fair market value of that public space in Jasper and that premium of space on our sidewalks ... and the fact that there are other business owners here that have the outdoor seating that they鈥檙e paying for under their lease.鈥�
The fee for the farmer鈥檚 market will be $60 per event.
Fercho said he received feedback from the Jasper Local Food Society, which administers the market, saying the $60 fee is manageable. That fee will allow the market to continue to operate in the McCready Centre parking lot, where it has been located for the past two summers under a pilot project.
In earlier drafts of the bylaw, which includes the fee schedule, busking was also included, but it has since been removed and will instead be administered as part of a one-year pilot project that will take place this summer. Based on that pilot, council will then decide whether it wants to include busking in the bylaw.
Fercho said administration is currently working with Dave Baker of Habitat for the Arts to create that pilot and the permitting process.
The municipality has been using pilot projects for the past few years to determine what activities work on public land. The first was the farmer鈥檚 market, followed by sidewalk seating last summer.
There was also a two-day busking trial last September, but council ultimately felt it wasn鈥檛 enough to determine whether or not busking is an appropriate use of public land.
The commercial use of public land bylaw is now in the hands of Parks Canada for approval before it comes before council for a final vote, which is expected to take place April 19.
The current sidewalk seating pilot project expires May 31, so participating restaurants are allowed to set up their outdoor patios until then before applying for a new permit and paying the fees.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
