On Tuesday, May 18, the owners of Niverville’s Chicken Chef appeared before town council to request permission to convert a portion of their parking lot into a patio to facilitate outdoor dining this summer.

Owners Laura and Tim Mulvena told council that they plan to close the Main Street entrance as well as the parking area immediately to the east of the restaurant. Their plan is to construct a 390-square-foot concrete pad in this area with a three-foot high fence around it.

This new patio will have a 20-seat capacity and will be licensed to serve alcohol.

Laura stated that when she and her co-owners first took over ownership of this location, they noticed there weren’t a lot of patio options in the town and they already intended to create one. She pointed out that other Chicken Chef locations have licensed patios and have experienced success with them.

The Mulvenas also confirmed that they will still maintain the required number of parking stalls for the restaurant, with 18 stalls remaining on the south side of the building. The lot will be upgraded to clearly demarcate these spots.

Although they don’t plan to pave the parking lot at this time, they plan to use dust control on the area to ensure that outdoor diners aren’t bothered by dust being blown around by the wind.

CAO Eric King confirmed that Chicken Chef had their liquor service approved by council on January 21, 2020 and that council had previously approved three picnic tables on June 23, 2020.

Laura’s initial request was for outdoor liquor service to run from 11:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., but Councillor Chris Wiebe suggested that this service be expanded by an hour, until 10:00 p.m., since summer weather can make outdoor dining suitable later in the evening.

Councillor Wiebe made a motion for this to be added to the proposal, and with this amendment the request from the Mulvenas was unanimously approved and carried.