TORONTO — The Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association (ORHMA) is offering to settle its dispute with Toronto city council with regard to the number of restaurants along Queen Street West, between Dufferin Street and Roncesvalles Avenue, reports the Toronto Star.
City council has said this section of Queen Street is home to 71 establishments, many of which contribute to high levels of noise and rowdyism. The ORHMA has been disputing a city bylaw to cap the number of restaurants at 25 per cent.
The association has offerered to drop its appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board if city council abandons the bylaw. ORHMA will accept a reduction in size, from 400 square metres to 200 square metres, instead of a cap on the number of establishments allowed to operate.
“The restaurant industry fully supports efforts to curtail bad behaviour to the point where liquor licences should be pulled, much like a driver’s licence, where you are allowed so many demerit points,” John Nunziata, lawyer for the ORHMA, is quoted as saying by the Star. Such an approach is better than capping the number, which would mean only seven new restaurants could open along the 1.2-kilometre strip, he adds.
City council will discuss this matter July 8. [thestar.com]
