The business community is gearing up for another summer of sidewalk patios and the like, and it could see more applications than in past years.
The City of St. John’s has cut sidewalk patio fees by about 85 per cent, a move for which the Canadian Federation of Independent Business had been advocating.
Jonathan Galgay, the director of legislative affairs for the Newfoundland and Labrador branch of the CFIB, says the capital previously had the highest such fees in Atlantic Canada and so,e of the highest in the country – around $2500 in some cases.
Jonathan Galgay
He’s happy that the city listened to their concerns.
“In Moncton it’s about $350, in Charlottetown it’s about $750 and Halifax a little over $900. We’d like to see it lower here but the city took a significant step forward,” says Galgay, a former city councillor himself.
