The owners of Parts and Labour are hoping neighbours will come on board in their plans to install a rooftop patio.
Richard Lambert and Jesse Girard, two of the owners of the restaurant and night hot spot, detailed the patio plans at a community meeting they hosted Jan. 17.They shared an early architectural rendering of the proposed patio with a group of neighbours from surrounding streets, but said the idea is in the preliminary planning stage."We are here to deal with the issues that you might have," Lambert said. "Whether we win or loose at the committee of adjustment, we are still going to be your neighbours."To install a patio would require approval from the committee of adjustment. Parts and Labour has not yet completed their application so no date has been set for their hearing at the committee.Parts and Labour at 1566 Queen St. W, took over a 5,000-square-foot failed hardware store and opened in the spring of 2010.The location is comprised of a main-floor restaurant and a basement space called The Shop, which hosts rock bands and art installations. There is a combined capacity of 417 people, and a rooftop patio would add capacity to the establishment, although Lambert said how much more remains to be seen.That lack of information raised concerns from the residents in attendance. Some also said they were concerned about the spillover from the bar, public urination in the adjacent alley and parking on local streets by patrons. The most prevalent concern however was with noise that could potentially come from the patio."The idea of this whole thing is you will not see us and you will not hear us," Lambert said. "Ongoing, we want to satisfy our neighbours."An engineering firm called Aerocoustics has been hired to design the expansion to mitigate noise concerns, Lambert said."We could build two more stories on top of this, but we don't want to do that, we want to build a patio," he said.The story of the rooftop patio stretches back to before Parts and Labour opened. A rooftop patio had been in their original plans, but was dropped during negotiations, said Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park Councillor Gord Perks at the meeting.Just days after Parts and Labour opened, Perks sited it as an example of how the city and club owners could work together to mitigate concerns of residents."We negotiated a series of changes with their application (for a liquor license), making it smaller and taking out the rooftop patio and then we attached a whole series of conditions that will go right on their liquor license," Perks explained to The Villager in June.Perks told residents at the Jan. 17 meeting there is a prohibition of rooftop patios on Queen Street West, so the owners would have to change the bylaw. He also told residents if the patio were to go through and should noise become an issue, it could be a long fight to fix it."I am telling you that you would be in for a three- or four-year fight," Perks said.One resident said she attended a meeting before Parts and Labour opened at which attendees were told there would be no patio."I am concerned because all of a sudden there is a reversal of plans," she said. "It is not a great comfort to me."However, Girard said that as business owners, they would not have signed off on the rooftop patio for the rest of the restaurant's existence.By the time the meeting wrapped up, some residents vocalized support for the patio, while others had stated their main concern was the potential for the patio to become a problem if the current owners were to sell the building. Others were in opposition of the idea, especially, they said, until the owners could offer more concrete plans.Lambert committed to hosting another meeting in which he said they would have more detailed plans and possibly an architect would be on hand to answer questions.The date of that meeting has not been set.