The Town of Saint-Lazare is aware that citizens are exposed to a huge amount of information which requires exercising judgment. It is not unusual for Town information to be tainted by the perception or subjective experience of those conveying the information. For this reason, it is occasionally important to set the record straight.

Following a public consultation on July 26, 2011, Council adopted, on September 6, 2011, a second by-Law project number 868-P2 entitled «Règlement numéro 868-P2 modifiant le règlement de zonage numéro 771 relativement à l’usage «resto-bar» which would allow Saint-Lazare restaurant owners to offer their clients the possibility to order an alcoholic beverage, in a defined and limited section of their establishment without having to order a meal, a building use similar to that of St-Hubert and Boston Pizza restaurants, but more restrictive.

A bit of history
A request to amend the Zoning By-Law to allow for this new usage in the Town’s commercial centre was submitted by a Saint-Lazare restaurant owner to Saint-Lazare’s urban planning and environment department in April of 2011.

The request was submitted on May 17 to the Town’s Comité consultatif d’urbanisme (CCU), the urban planning review board, for the ten-member committee’s review (8 residents and 2 councillors) and later recommendations to members of Council. Following their review, CCU members were favourable to granting this new « resto-bar » usage in the zones identified on the map below, insofar as the use is restricted.

By “restricted”, CCU members recommended the “resto-bar” use be limited as follows:
1. Limit the restaurant’s bar floor section to 35% of the establishment’s available floor space ;
2. Restrict to a maximum of 150 sq. m. a bar’s floor section regardless
   of the size of the restaurant;

This is roughly what By-Law n° 868-P2 suggests.

What does this zoning change not permit?
Contrary to false information which has been circulating, the new use will not permit

• New bars;
• Concert-bars;
• Strip clubs;
• Night clubs;
• Nor resto-bars in residential sectors.

Which zones are affected by this new use?
Zones affected are identified here in red. Amongst restaurants already present in these zones are Délice et café on Chemin Sainte-Angélique, Anis et Marjolaine, Ristorante Il Tesoro, Bravo, Planète St-Lazare, Camelia, La Belle Province and Roma Pizza.

Do I have a say?
Yes! Entitled qualified voters, in a given zone or an adjoining zone affected by the by-law amendment, as described in the Public notice ville.saint-lazare.qc.ca/documents/avispublics/2011/110909a.pdf, can submit a request to ask that a referendum approval process be triggered. Requests must be received at the Town’s office no later than 4 p.m. on September 19, 2011.

Who can I contact if I have questions?
The Town clerk’s office can be contacted should one want to find out whether or not he or she is entitled to submit a request. The Urban planning and environment department personnel can be contacted for additional explanations on a given zone, its description or illustration or the consequences of specific by-law articles on the referendum approval. Department numbers and schedules are available in the Public notice ville.saint-lazare.qc.ca/documents/avispublics/2011/110909a.pdf.