More al fresco dining options now available

ThisWeek CW 06/07/2012

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2012/06/04/downtown-ambiance-more-al-fresco-dining-options-now-available.html

The options for dining al fresco in downtown Canal Winchester are sprouting all along High Street.

Due to current restaurant trends and a recent change in the city’s downtown zoning laws, Canal Winchester restaurants such as Harvest Moon (7 N. High St.), Shade on the Canal (19 S. High St.) and Village Wines and Bistro (10 S. High St.) are all expanding their outdoor seating.

“I think the sidewalk and patio seating adds to the experience of downtown Canal Winchester,” Development Director Lucas Haire said. “These places become a destination, Shade’s is one and now that Village Wines moved downtown from Waterloo, they’re becoming another.

“All of these locations add to the ambiance you feel along High Street.”

In May, Canal Winchester City Council approved zoning changes that allow downtown restaurants to use part of the public right of way for outdoor seating. At the May 29 Landmarks Commission meeting, Harvest Moon became the first business to receive approval for its plans to fence off part of the public sidewalk to offer outdoor seating.

According to owner Nathan Doerfler, plans are to have the new seating ready by mid-July. Administrative approval is still pending, based on Doerfler submitting the necessary insurance documents and permit paperwork.

“We’ve just finished our interior renovation so now we’ll move to the outside and begin working on that,” he said. “What we proposed was in keeping with the eclectic flow of downtown, using black gas-pipe as our boundary fence for our patio running off the building just west of our property for dining and possibly alcohol consumption as well.”

Another approval by the Landmarks Commission, during the same meeting, was for a new landscape plan around the patio at Village Wines and Bistro. That patio is built on the restaurant’s property.

“Our patio opened a couple of weeks ago and we can seat about 50 to 60 people out there,” owner John Stedman said. “We were able to build the patio to our specs since we didn’t have to rely on city property.

“I think that allowed us more flexibility,” he said. “We’re in the final stages of putting in the landscaping and then we’ll be done.”

Stedman said a popular feature of the Bistro patio is live outdoor music on Thursday nights.

Greg Powers, owner of Shade on the Canal, said he hopes to open a new patio by late June.

“Outdoor dining is big right now,” Powers said. “The minute our plans are approved, we are two weeks out on completing it. Village Wines did a great job with their patio and our patio will be very nice, also. It makes the historic downtown area that much more of a special place to dine.”

City staff members and the business owners all said they believe the outdoor seating options will continue to increase, and will be a draw for people to come downtown.

“People want to sit outside and enjoy the weather, and when people see others enjoying themselves, that will draw them downtown, too,” Doerfler said.

Powers said the outdoor dining brings a nice energy to downtown; Stedman agreed.

“As a whole, I think it’s great for the community. It adds a feature to Canal Winchester that some other communities don’t have. This will help all of downtown,” Stedman said.