The Municipality of Jasper is increasing the sidewalk seating fee for the use of the parking lane to $1,850 per stall in 2024 and $2,050 per stall in 2025.
Council approved this increase and gave first and second reading to the rates and fees bylaw during its regular meeting on Tuesday.
The municipality began allowing sidewalk to assist restaurants during the pandemic, but sidewalk seating has since proven to be a popular way for restaurant to seat their customers during the summer.
In 2022, administration proposed a fee of $1,650 per stall for sidewalk seating installations, but council opted for only half that amount, or $825 per stall, since the business community was still recovering from the pandemic.
The full fee of $1,650 came into effect for 2023.
In terms of potential paid parking revenue, the value of each parking stall in the downtown core was $2,070 in 2023, according to administration.
Based on the same usage and the 2024 rates that council approved, the value of a downtown parking stall is estimated at $2,661 for 2024.
Recognizing that a $1,000 increase per stall was rather steep, administration recommended $2,150 for the value of a stall in 2024.
However, several councillors thought even this increase would be too much.
Coun. Rico Damota advocated for a “phased-up approach” for increasing fees, particularly in consideration of restauranters who had gotten five-year permits and already invested in their installations.
“Giving someone an increase pretty much over one season that could mean a $1,000 [for two stalls] is a big jump,” Damota said during last week’s committee of the whole meeting.
Coun. Helen Kelleher-Empey agreed that increases should be incremental, going up $200 per stall per year as opposed to a sudden increase of $500 per stall.
“There’s a lot of bigger restaurants that may be able to afford it, but we have a lot of smaller restaurants, and it’s been a rough winter this year,” she said.
Mayor Richard Ireland voted against the smaller increase, noting that these businesses were using public space for commercial purposes.
“Not every business [in town] runs a restaurant,” Ireland said.
“Many of them think they would benefit more from having additional parking stalls than walkarounds or seats. So, instead, they have to subsidize their neighbour because this is a public asset and we’re saying that for commercial purposes you can have it at a discount.”
The mayor added that administration’s proposed rate was already $500 less than the actual revenue-generating value of a stall.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Ireland was the only dissenting vote.
When council gives third reading to the rates and fees bylaw, administration will also be bringing recommendations for how much to charge the use of parking stalls for purposes other than sidewalk seating.
