The Ford government has amended an existing emergency order to allow some covered outdoor dining areas to open.
Restaurant and bar patios have been allowed to operate since Niagara entered stage two of the province’s reopening plan on June 19th, but there has been some confusion around whether patios with a roof are permitted.
On Friday, the province announced that it is amending the emergency order to “to clarify that outdoor dining areas can open if they have a roof, canopy, tent, awning or other covering.”
The province said that in order to qualify as an outdoor dining area, at least two sides of the space must be open to the outdoors.
That means that restaurants with large garage doors that open to the outdoors remain limited to take out only for now.
The province also announced today it is issuing another emergency order to help municipalities quickly pass the temporary bylaws needed to allow for the creation of new patios and the expansion of existing one.