The owners of Haliburton restaurant Hook Line & Sinker are one step closer to making their dreams of creating a second-floor patio overlooking Head Lake a reality.
A long-running disagreement with Dysart et al township over the number of new parking spaces required to facilitate an expansion was settled at a June 24 council meeting. Township planner Jeff Iles told council the owners, Taylor Pridham and Veronica Van Leeuwen, had changed their plans – adapting their application to turn the patio into a cocktail bar, rather than an extension to the restaurant.
In early 2024, the pair sought township approval to add 30 seats via an upstairs patio. The eatery currently seats 100 people inside and 40 on an existing first-floor patio during the warm-weather months.
The project was held up over parking requirements – the property has 15 spots for vehicles on-site, at the rear of the building, with another 27 across the road in the municipally-owned Head Lake Park parking lot. Iles said the restaurant needed to acquire another 23 parking spots to meet the township’s regulations.
Another option was to pay the municipality $46,000, at $2,000 per spot, in lieu of parking, money that Iles said could be used to create new parking elsewhere in the downtown.
At last month’s meeting, Iles said by re-designating the expansion as a licensed liquor establishment (LLE), the owners would only require nine additional spots, totalling $18,000.
“In the zoning bylaw, the requirements for an LLE are lower than those required for a restaurant,” which is one parking space for each nine sq. metres of a site’s gross floor area, or one per every four possible patrons – whichever is greater (the restaurant boasts 407 sq. metres, with the patio expansion around 160 sq. metres). LLEs require only one spot for every four people that can be legally accommodated at one time.
After Iles recommended that council approve the updated request, mayor Murray Fearrey asked how LLEs are defined. Iles said they are a building or premises other than a sit-down, drive-thru or takeout restaurant licensed through the Liquor Licence Act, which drew some confusion.
“Is this not a restaurant?” Fearrey retorted, with Iles saying the cocktail lounge will act as a separate space and won’t serve food from the restaurant’s menu. He did note, though, that any establishment serving liquor must have food available, per the Liquor Licence Act.
“The primary intent of that portion of the building will be an LLE, as opposed to a restaurant,” Iles said.
“I think they’re smarter than we are,” Fearrey replied.
After deputy mayor Walt McKechnie asked if the addition would necessitate any other improvements, such as to washroom capacity, Iles said likely yes, but those would be addressed through a separate application to the township’s building department.
McKechnie said he felt uneasy about the change in approach.
“I understand what they want to do, and it’ll be great… but I can’t get my head around designating that as an alcohol-only space… when you’re serving alcohol, you’re serving food,” the deputy mayor said. “It just doesn’t fit with my vision of what’s going to happen.”
Coun. Pat Casey, who had long advocated for council finding a solution, was pleased to see the issue put to bed, saying he wants the township to do what it can to support business. He felt the downtown area was a better place because of restaurants like Hook, Line & Sinker, the recently-opened Juna, and other establishments.
“It’s a good atmosphere now. We’re building some good character in town. We need [restaurants] because of the amount of people moving here, and coming and going,” Casey said.
Fearrey acknowledged there wasn’t much the township could do, though hoped there would be routine inspections to ensure the patio, if approved, isn’t being misused.
McKechnie said he feels parking is becoming a real problem in the downtown and that additions like this are only going to exacerbate the problem.
“I’ve got nothing against restaurants coming to town, we’ve got some great ones, but I think parking is such a big thing, we have a big need,” he said. “We’re going to have to spend some money here to create some parking soon.”
