In what may be a symptom of growing pains for Vancouver’s restaurant scene, a downtown bar is battling the city to keep its popular sidewalk seating area.
Top Shelf Martinis on Main, at the corner of West Sixth and Main streets, has been told to redesign its bolted-down patio after city officials said the current layout poses problems for blind pedestrians.
While city staffers are responding to complaints, they say the process highlights the need for a new permit program to handle rising requests from restaurants to permit outdoor seating.
That doesn’t placate Top Shelf owner Daren Morgan, who called the city’s order to change or dismantle his patio “ridiculous.” That sentiment was echoed by his staff.
“You’re trying to show off our awesome city, especially around Sixth and Main where it’s blowing up, and then (the city is) like, ‘Oh, hey, we changed our mind,’ ” said Joey Ferguson, general manager. “It just seems like they’re not working with actual business owners to see what we can do to improve downtown.”
Morgan, 49, spent $10,000 last spring to install the patio. Its brushed steel rail corrals a nearly 11-by-20-foot patch of Main Street sidewalk where it widens to meet West Sixth Street. However, it adds a curve to any pedestrian’s path on that corner.
The patio was approved by the city of Vancouver and the state Liquor and Cannabis Board last year. Those agencies deemed it compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Morgan added that they ensured the aisles around the patio were wider than the minimum requirements for pedestrians who use wheelchairs.
“I followed all the requirements and everything,” he said. “I went above and beyond.”
But wheelchair access isn’t the problem. Ryan Lopossa, the city’s streets and transportation manager, said the city has received two complaints and staff has watched blind residents with guide dogs struggle to circumvent the patio railing.
Lopossa said the city is not trying to see it dismantled, just “reconfigured.”
“We’re not telling them it’s got to come out and anything like that, we’re just telling them we need to take a look at it and modify it a little bit,” he said.
However, the way it is currently set up might be the only way to meet the state Liquor and Cannabis Board’s standards, Morgan argues. Top Shelf initially planned on having a detached beer garden, but the state agency doesn’t allow patrons to carry alcohol across public sidewalks.
And wrapping the patio around the corner onto West Sixth Street, a recommendation by city planners, doesn’t work because bar owners wouldn’t have a line-of-sight to their customers, Morgan said.
But the bar owner’s chief problem is that he followed the requirements initially laid out by the city — and now the rules have changed, he said.
“They came out with this checklist (that) says this is what you have to do to meet their requirements. They came back only once there was an issue, and they’re trying to cover their butts,” he said.
Any redesign or removal will have to be paid by Top Shelf.
“That’s precisely the reason we want to minimize as much retooling they have to do,” Lopossa said. “In all likelihood, any cost to retool will have to come out of their pocket. We want to be sensitive to that.”
Reservations outside
Although Top Shelf’s situation is unique, city planners say it highlights a gap in the way the city works with restaurants.
Top Shelf or any restaurant has to file a right-of-way permit through the city to place chairs and tables on public property. It’s the same permit used for, say, Fourth of July block parties.
Because the uses are typically temporary, permits expire Dec. 31 every year. Restaurants aiming to build a permanent patio would have to reapply every year. In Top Shelf’s case, the permit expired last year, and the city does not have to accept a new permit despite the work to make it permanent.
More restaurants are opening in Vancouver, however, so Lopossa said they want to make sure to avoid situations like these. A workshop on city sidewalks is scheduled for early June, where he said he plans to bring up outdoor restaurant seating.
“Obviously we’ve seen more businesses opening up and more eating and drinking establishments in Vancouver. When they see that opportunity, they want to do that outdoor seating,” he said.
Other examples include downtown bars like Brickhouse and Low Bar, whose outdoor seating required a yearly permit. Jorge’s Tequila Factory had an outdoor seating area, but it went away when the management stopped applying for the permit.
Outdoor seating can be good for business. Morgan said revenues at Top Shelf rose 25 percent after the patio was installed, and now customers are frustrated at the prospect of losing it.
“I’ll have people come by standing behind (the patio) saying, ‘This is what we want down here, and we’re here to help however we can,’ ” he said.
Disputes between restaurants and the city aren’t good for anyone, however. Vancouver’s Downtown Association, which advocates for business in the city’s core, said cooperation is going to be key for all parties.
“We have to be responsive to everyone’s needs downtown,” said Executive Director Steve Becker. “I hope this situation will be a learning opportunity for all of us to come up with better designs for sidewalks, and also helps create the vitality and the inviting qualities we all want to see.”
