In a move to support cafes and restaurants, Hamilton City Council is recommending to change an annual fee for outdoor dining and signage to once every three years.

At today’s Community and Natural Environment Committee meeting (18 February), the committee made a unanimous recommendation which means businesses who want to use the space outside their store for dining or signage will save time and money by only needing to apply every three years.

The permit process is to make sure there is balance between city vibrancy, customer experience, consistency of rules and accessibility for footpath users.

Committee Deputy Chair Anna Casey-Cox hopes this will encourage more places to offer outdoor dining.

“This is a small step to show that Council appreciates what these businesses do for our city and Hamiltonians. We hope to see even more businesses using outdoor dining and creating a real sense of atmosphere and buzz.”

Nature in the City blooms

Volunteer efforts have seen around 67,000 native plants planted in Hamilton over the past 18 months.

This was just one of the achievements highlighted in a report update on the city’s Nature in the City programme. Other achievements include:

• Council rangers planted approximately 50,000 plants and 15,000 plants in the 2023 and 2024 planting seasons respectively, and transported over 25,000 plants for the community.
• 239 residents have been actively engaged in the gully restoration programme, increasing the total area under resident restoration from 24.2 hectares in 2022/23 to 28.4 hectares by December 2024.
• Volunteers contributed approximately 20,500 hours over the past 18 months.
• 64 site plans were developed, providing a targeted approach to operational maintenance and restoration works.
• The Kids in Nature programme, sponsored by Ebbett Toyota, provided over 100 educational opportunities in Hamilton schools in 2024.
• The Nature in the City app, which provides self-guided tours of 11 of Hamilton’s natural areas, has been downloaded over 4000 times since its launch in September 2023.

Completion of a baseline ecological inventory, fauna data collection, a site prioritisation tool and restoration and community access works at Donny Park were also noted in the report as important recent achievements for Nature in the City.

The programme continues to focus on community engagement, planting projects and developing systems to support ecological sustainability.

Adoption of draft animal-related bylaws and policy recommended

Hamilton’s draft Animal Nuisance Bylaw, Dog Control Bylaw and Dog Control Policy are one step closer to being adopted.

The policy and bylaws outline rules and guidelines for the keeping of animals, bees and poultry in the city. The documents were reviewed by Council staff last year, with key proposed changes including providing more off-lead opportunities for dogs across Hamilton’s parks, setting minimum housing standards for dogs, simplifying the multiple dog permit requirements, and making it clearer that residents must house their animals on private property only.

Community consultation was carried out from 18 September - 18 October 2024, with 308 submissions received, of which most agreed with the key proposed amendments.

The Committee today agreed to recommend to Council to adopt the bylaws and policy, along with the outdoor dining fee change, at its 20 March 2025 meeting.

The full agenda and minutes for the 18 February 2025 committee meeting will be available on Council’s website.

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