Parts and Labour patio nixed by Parkdale residents and committee of adjustment

Looks like revellers will be staying indoors this summer at Parkdale hot spot Parts and Labour. Inside Toronto is reporting that the restaurant and bar was denied a patio application at a committee of adjustment meeting on March 9. Apparently, committee members and neighbours who helped stop the application were concerned that owners Richard Lambert and Jesse Girard hadn’t done their due diligence when considering a patio’s impact on the surrounding neighbourhood.

Back in January, Lambert and Girard shared an architectural rendering of the proposed patio to a group of neighbours. “The idea of this whole thing is you will not see us and you will not hear us,” Lambert told Inside Toronto at the beginning of the year. Apparently, the engineering firm Aeroacoustics was hired to design the expansion, with noise concerns in mind.

But at the latest meeting committee members just weren’t satisfied with Girard’s answers to their queries. Girard admitted that he and Lambert hadn’t discussed potential hours of operation for the proposed patio and couldn’t give an idea of noise levels that would result from an outdoor extension. Committee member Robert Brown commented, “For an astute businessman, you should have better answers.”

Committee members weren’t the only ones voicing their concerns last Wednesday—18 residents of the Parkdale area attended the meeting, and three were given the opportunity to make a statement, bringing 68 letters opposing the development. Making the issue more complicated is the ban on back patios, as well as a bylaw prohibiting rooftop patios on Queen West. Looks like the Drake and the Rhino won’t have to worry about new competition on the patio front this summer.

• Patio application denied [Inside Toronto]
• Parts and Labour detail patio plans [Inside Toronto]