Taking a cue from developers, Parts and Labour goes to the OMB to plead their patio case
Two weeks ago, Jesse Girard and Richard Lambert, the pair behind Parkdale’s Parts and Labour, went before the Ontario Municipal Board for the last stage of their protracted fight for a 180-person rooftop patio. We caught up Girard to find out how the hearing went and catch up on Toronto’s ongoing war on fun.
Since it opened last spring, the Queen West hotspot has fought off claims that it doesn’t jive with the rest of the block (an architect living nearby told The Grid that Parts and Labour is not a bar but “a giant entertainment venue.”) “People think we’re a nightclub; it frustrates me,” Girard told us, insisting Parts and Labour is first and foremost a restaurant. Back in March, their application for a zoning variance to allow a patio was nixed by a committee of adjustment. Since then, the city voted to repeal its new harmonized zoning bylaw, which contained restrictions on outdoor patios in the area. But the building’s roof is still too close to a neighbouring one and there’s still plenty of opposition from nearby residents afraid of hearing “Rebel Rebel” blasting at 2 a.m.
“I have owned enough places to know you have to get along with your neighbours,” says Girard, who also co-owns The Hoxton with Lambert. The pair hired acoustical engineers and architects, which mapped the bar’s sonic impact, and designed a sound-blocking wall—but their efforts seems to have fallen on deaf ears. The hearing stretched over two days, much of that taken up by unhappy residents. “It’s just unfortunate people see it with such venom, like it’s the end of the world or something,” Girard says.
The entire process has been costly—OMB appeals are usually the province of developers hoping to add a couple storeys to a condo. “Ninety-five percent of people in my position would not have the resources to go up against the OMB,” said Girard. Even with sufficient capital at his disposal, he knew the odds weren’t great from the beginning. “We were quite aware we would be shot down in front of the [city’s] committee of adjustment,” he says. Now that he’s had the opportunity to plead his case, Girard figures his odds are about 50-50. He and Lambert should receive their answer by the end of the week.
• Parkdale’s great debate [The Grid]
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/parts-and-labour-goes-to-the-omb/&title=Taking a cue from developers, Parts and Labour goes to the OMB to plead their patio case&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/partslabour2.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_100094" align="alignright" width="320" caption="(Image: Jon Sufrin)"][/caption]
Two weeks ago, Jesse Girard and Richard Lambert, the pair behind Parkdale’s Parts and Labour, went before the Ontario Municipal Board for the last stage of their protracted fight for a 180-person rooftop patio. We caught up Girard to find out how the hearing went and catch up on Toronto’s ongoing war on fun.
Since it opened last spring, the Queen West hotspot has fought off claims that it doesn’t jive with the rest of the block (an architect living nearby told The Grid that Parts and Labour is not a bar but “a giant entertainment venue.”) “People think we’re a nightclub; it frustrates me,” Girard told us, insisting Parts and Labour is first and foremost a restaurant. Back in March, their application for a zoning variance to allow a patio was nixed by a committee of adjustment. Since then, the city voted to repeal its new harmonized zoning bylaw, which contained restrictions on outdoor patios in the area. But the building’s roof is still too close to a neighbouring one and there’s still plenty of opposition from nearby residents afraid of hearing “Rebel Rebel” blasting at 2 a.m.
“I have owned enough places to know you have to get along with your neighbours,” says Girard, who also co-owns The Hoxton with Lambert. The pair hired acoustical engineers and architects, which mapped the bar’s sonic impact, and designed a sound-blocking wall—but their efforts seems to have fallen on deaf ears. The hearing stretched over two days, much of that taken up by unhappy residents. “It’s just unfortunate people see it with such venom, like it’s the end of the world or something,” Girard says.
The entire process has been costly—OMB appeals are usually the province of developers hoping to add a couple storeys to a condo. “Ninety-five percent of people in my position would not have the resources to go up against the OMB,” said Girard. Even with sufficient capital at his disposal, he knew the odds weren’t great from the beginning. “We were quite aware we would be shot down in front of the [city’s] committee of adjustment,” he says. Now that he’s had the opportunity to plead his case, Girard figures his odds are about 50-50. He and Lambert should receive their answer by the end of the week.
• Parkdale’s great debate [The Grid]){kind=link}
it is an entertainment complex. when i have to walk by stanchions of lined up people, smoking and throwing up-it is no longer a restaurant.
this place doesn’t fit with the rest of the block and the out of neighborhood wanna be hipster douches are not a very welcome addition each and every night….
I would have agreed with you ‘parkdaleeater’, and felt the same way myself until one night we took out-of-town friends dancing at Parts and Labour and had a very good time. We were ushered downstairs, so no noise on the main level, and we dance all night long. Great people, very friendly, very happy and all looking to have a nice night out. No ‘wanna be hipster douches’ you speak of. Try it out, you might leave smiling.
adapt to young people having fun in your hood like you must adapt to a tim hortons in parkdale now, ya snob.
been to parts and labour… no need to return…
so happy they keep the nightclub (not restaurant as they contend) but now they want it on the roof…that will indeed make noise and lots of it…
the hipster douches are certainly there and spilling out into the neighborhood (worse at closing time-very entertainment district)
poor braydon-you must think we are all 80 years old, people can have fun in parkdale-young/old/rich/poor…but respect the neighborhood without trying to revolutionizing it… it will remain far longer than you holding onto that style from the past that include your white rimmed sun glasses, your potato beard, plaid shirt and skinny jeans. i don’t have to adapt to tim’s in my hood (or anywhere as i don’t patronize it). tim’s (like lcbo’s) are just an opportunity for our locals to ask for money.
There are some pretty serious holes in Toronto Life’s reporting in this article, mostly in terms of bias. As a local resident who attended Parts and Labour’s community meeting, several meetings with community members and Gord Perks, and the OMB hearing, I have a different sense of what’s been going on.
I went to P and L’s community meeting with an open mind. Queen West and Parkdale are changing; change itself is not the issue. Sadly, Richard and Jesse made it clear that the community meeting was nothing more than a checking of the box en route to them getting their patio. They promised to keep in touch with neighbours, but concluded their meeting without having taken any steps to stay in touch. A neighbour asked if they wanted a list of emails – one was created, but they never contacted us. The sound study they promised had not been completed by the time of their first hearing in March, when their patio request was turned down.
That Richard and Jesse have experience in their field is indisputable. That they have experience rankling neighbours is also indisputable. It’s a shame that these facts are left out of your article.
At the recent OMB hearing, Richard and Jesse came with a sound study completed and an impressive lawyer. The neighbours came in large numbers, too. We took note when Richard was chastised by the judge for taking photos in the hearing space. Seriously.
Being seen as anti-fun in being opposed to a Parts and Labour patio is ridiculous and not worthy of further comment. We live in the city for all that is offered – much of it “fun”. We are asking for a liveable, balanced neighbourhood. Parts and Labour owners have not been good neighbours in the past (ask any residents in the vicinity of The Social) and there is no indication that they will be good neighbours here.
Richard and Jesse operate under the aggressive business model of strongarming their way forward at all costs. It’s a shame they can’t see ways of succeeding as business people while respecting the needs of neighbours and the balance of a community.
Toronto Life should do its research and provide a more balanced view of this situation.