The owner of the Bedford Beer Garden says he is discouraged and disgusted that he can’t open his business because the city told him he doesn’t have enough parking spaces.
Tony Makhoul tells our newsroom the lack of spots means he is unable to acquire an occupancy permit, so his doors remain closed.
“With HRM, their bylaw states that for every four seats that we have within the beer garden, we need to have one parking spot available on site,” says Makhoul.
Right now, they are 15 spaces short.
Makhoul says he has been in business for many years in Halifax and this is the first he’s heard of such a thing.
“We had three HRM planning and development workers that came to our site in March. We had started construction, putting up the decking and some of the barriers on the outside. They didn’t mention parking at all to us,” says Makhoul.
He says it wasn’t until they got further into the process that parking made its way into the conversation and they had to resubmit site plans over a dozen times.
“It would have been beginning of May, somewhere in that ballpark, where we started really worrying about the parking situation. It would seem to be a reoccurring issue that kept coming up with planning and development,” adds Makhoul.
What the city says
In an email statement to our newsroom the city says the business owner must show a beer garden meets municipal requirements to receive a permit, including off-street parking “in accordance with the land use bylaw.”
However, Makhoul says, similar businesses to the Bedford Beer Garden that are in the downtown core, are exempt from this bylaw because they have other parking options.
“They can count street parking, paid parking on the street…all that goes toward their count, which means they don’t have to have a minimum requirement for seats to parking spaces on their property,” adds Makhoul.
He says they would like the same courtesy extended to them or have the bylaw changed to accommodate businesses like them as the city continues to grow.
Photo: Tony Makhoul
Community support
Most of the Bedford Beer Market’s clients are between 40 and 60 years old.
The garden hasn’t officially opened yet, but the weekend before last they had a special occasion liquor license for a Feed Nova Scotia fundraiser.
“The response was fantastic,. For that first weekend, the community came out and they supported. Unfortunately a few days ago I had to put up that post that told everyone we were closed until we got our permanent occupancy,” sasy MaKhoul.
He says that caused a lot of frustration.
“About 80 per cent of the people there didn’t even drive there. They walked down. They took an Uber. They got dropped off by their kids,” says Makhoul.
Next steps
Makhoul says he has reached out to two HRM planners, Bedford Councillor Jean St. Amond as well as Mayor Andy Fillmore to come to the site to figure things out.
He adds, he does have some solutions that are within the bylaw to reduce the required parking including being on a transit route, street parking and a private off-site lot.
“So, there are solutions there, but we put those solutions to the group of people that I just mentioned and I’ve yet to receive a response,” says Makhoul.
He asks his supporters to reach out to their local councillor.
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