Hunter Street West between George and Aylmer streets in downtown Peterborough will be reconfigured into a one-lane one-way westbound street beginning on Tuesday (May 15).
Part of the City of Peterborough’s preparations for patio season, the temporary change will allow for expanded sidewalk space for patios in this part of the downtown’s café district.
As part of the reconfiguration of this section of Hunter Street West, Chambers Street will be temporarily closed at its south end at Hunter Street and will allow two-way traffic from its north end at Brock Street for the duration of the Hunter Street reconfiguration.
For a third year, the city will also be coordinating the installation of public artworks along a section of Hunter Street West as part of the Renaissance on Hunter public art project. The road mural and artists’ gardens projects are expected to be in place by the end of June, weather permitting.
The city will also be installing decorative fencing and planter boxes next to businesses on George, Water, and Charlotte streets that have signed up for the expanded patios this year, repurposing on-street parking in front of their businesses.
This is the fourth summer the city is implementing temporary changes to the downtown area to allow for more patio and pedestrian spaces, which originally began during the pandemic to support physical distancing as well as more outdoor dining spaces for restaurants.
Similar to last year’s changes, this year’s design will include reduced speed limits on streets with patios. Parking spaces, including accessible spaces, as well as loading zones and designated waste pick-up areas, may be adjusted once patio locations have been confirmed with participating businesses.
According to a media release, the city has received around 25 patio permit applications so far, but expects installations to continue throughout May and June for businesses that did not meet the application deadline of April 6th to have patios installed during the week of May 15th and the application deadline of May 8th to have patios installed during the week of June 12th.
The city is continuing to accept patio permit applications, which are required for all patios on city-owned property, until Thursday, June 1st. More information about applications for temporary patios is available on the City of Peterborough website.
