Restaurants Canada challenges zoning bylaw in Montreal borough
By Canadian Pizza
News fast food restaurant bylaw restaurant zoning restaurants canadaMontreal – Restaurants Canada recently filed legal proceedings to contest the validity of an amendment to a zoning bylaw in the Montreal borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
The bylaw amendment defines certain businesses as “fast-food restaurants” and confines them to a few select areas, Restaurants Canada said in a news release. The Borough has stated that the bylaw change is intended to improve citizens’ health.
The association takes the position that the modification to the zoning bylaw is illegal and must be declared invalid by a court of law. “Zoning must be regulated according to common characteristics of land occupancy and their effect on the neighbourhood, which is not the case with the new category of use proposed by the Borough. In addition, the definition “fast-food restaurant” (“restaurant rapide”) is illegal, as it relies on criteria that have no link with nutritional health,” the release said.
The association contends that the law does not give municipalities the power to establish their zoning on the basis of the personal nutritional choices of their citizens.
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