City of Vancouver

Inter-Office Correspondence

Community Services Group

PERMITS AND LICENSES DEPARTMENT

September 9, 1999

MEMO TO: Vancouver Liquor and Licensing Commission

COPY TO: Members of Council

Brent MacGregor, Deputy City Manager

FROM: Paul Teichroeb, Chief License Inspector

SUBJECT: Clarification of Council Policy and Practice for Liquor

Licensed Establishments

Over the past year, there has been a lot of misinformation and confusion surrounding Council's policy and practices related to the Neighbourhood referendum process for liquor licenses. This memo outlines the original 1989 policy along with the modifications that have been implemented since that time.

On August 1st, 1989, Council adopted a resolution requiring that all Class A Lounge/Pub, Class B-2 Restaurant, Class C Cabaret, Class D Neighbourhood Pub, Class F Marine Pub and Class G retail Beer & wine store liquor license applications be referred to referendum if they were located in close proximity to residential accommodation. This was generally interpreted as a significant amount of residential within the notification area.

On October 16, 1990, Council reaffirmed the existing Council policy that requires new liquor license applications and amendments to existing licenses be subject to a referendum if the premises are located in close proximity to residential accommodation.

Council at that time had considered including in the policy the ability to assess the need for a referendum on a case by case basis but concluded that this would result in undo pressure on the Commission from applicants to have the referendum requirement waived for their application. Council instead chose to maintain the existing policy but to exclude major hotel developments and those applications where there are unique, extenuating circumstances from requiring a referendum. Subsequent policy exclusions included private clubs, recreation/cultural centres or universities subject to the notification process.

In the past couple of years, Council has developed policy for the Granville Entertainment District that has further refined the referendum policy, by waving the referendum requirement for new establishments in the entertainment district and for existing Cabarets and Class A licenses wishing to relocate to the district from surrounding residential areas. This exclusion was based on the extensive public process carried out in this neighbourhood.

Council also implemented the following policy requiring legal agreements and or time-limited development permits for new establishments (Class ‘A’ Lounge/Pub, Class ‘C’ Cabaret or Class ‘D’ Neighbourhood pub licensed establishments) or any existing establishments with the same license classification seeking extended hours or increased seating capacity. Council policy and practices involve varying procedures including neighbourhood notification, legal agreements (ranging from housing and operating agreements to an agreement for the permanent closure or relocation of an existing liquor license), time-limited development permits and referendums depending on the situation:

1. New or amendments to a Class ‘A’ Lounge or Pub in a major hotel developments, Class 'C' cabaret, Class 'E' Concert Hall/Stadium and Class F Marine Pubs are subject to legal agreements, a good neighbour agreement, neighbourhood notification and for specific situations a time-limited development permit.

2. New Class ‘D’ Neighbourhood Pubs are subject to legal agreements, a good neighbour agreement, a time-limited development permit, neighbourhood notification and a referendum.

3. Amendments to existing Class ‘D’ Neighbourhood Pubs are subject to legal agreements, a good neighbour agreement, neighbourhood notification.

4. New Class ‘A’ Lounge (Social Club/Non profit society) or amendments to existing licenses are subject to legal agreements, a good neighbour agreement, neighbourhood notification and a time-limited development permit for new applications.

Council's decision will be based upon the neighbourhood notification results as to the specific requirements of each application. The amount of residential within the notification area and the proximity of residential to the subject site are also factors that are taken into consideration. Council may with any of the above liquor license applications require the successful completion of a neighbourhood referendum in accordance with city guidelines if significant neighbourhood issues are identified.

As previously discussed, the referendum process is being reviewed with the results to be reported back to Council.

____________________
Paul Teichroeb,
Chief License Inspector

encl.

DATE	APPLICANT	ADDRESS	CLASS	NEW	CHANGE IN HOURS	INCREASE IN SEATING	ENDORSED SUBJECT TO
03/20/97	Brent Davies	1583 Coal Harbour Quay	‘F’ Marine	*			YES: Notification
03/20/97	Terminal City Club	837 W Hastings	‘A’ Pub	*			YES: Notification
05/03/97	Pinnacle International	1128 W Hastings	‘A’ Lo/Pub	*			YES: Notification
10/15/97	Quarterdeck Brewery Ltd.	375 Water	‘D’ Brew Pub	*			NO: Notification
10/21/97	Malone’s Sports Bar	608 W. Pender	‘A’ Pub		*		YES: Notification
10/24/97	The Creek Brewery Ltd.	1253 Johnston	‘A’ Patio/Off Premise Sales	*			YES: Notification Time Ltd. DP
11/19/97	546679 B.C. Ltd. (Fountainhead Pub)	1025 Davie	‘D’ Pub	*			Referendum
11/19/97	KMann Investments	620 Seymour	‘C’ Cabaret	*			NO:
03/09/98	Delta Vancouver Hotel	550 W. Hastings	‘A’ Lounge	*			YES: Notification
03/31/98	Jericho Pub Inc. (Jeremiahs)	3681 W.4th Ave.	‘D’ Pub		*		YES: Notification
04/21/98	Allen Lai	88.W Pender	‘D’ Pub	*			YES: Referendum
05/28/98	Howard Murray Invest. Ltd.	646 Seymour	‘C’ Cabaret	*			YES: Time Ltd. DP/GNA/ /Legal Agreement to close 99 Powell/Soundproofing
05/27/98	561109 B.C. Ltd.	99 Powell	‘D’ Pub	*			YES: Notification Time Ltd. DP/no off-sales/patio closing 10 p.m./GNA/Legal Agreement to close Club Elite/Soundproofing/Live Entertainment to 1 performer/restaurant to close same time as pub/no exotic dancers.
10/14/98	Empire Landmark Hotel	1400 Robson	‘A’ Lounge			*	YES: Notification
01/06/99	Canada House on Robson	175 Robson	‘A’ Lounge	*			YES: Notification
10/19/98	472120 B.C. Ltd.	871 Beatty	‘D’ Pub Manufacturer License				YES: GNAgreement Referendum 11/94
01/0799	Leon Hotel Ltd.	1234 Kingsway (Relocation from 3728 Clark)	‘D’ Pub				YES: Notification. Time Ltd. DP/Patio close 10 p.m./GNA/Legal Agreement
02/04/99	Sonar Cabaret	66 Water	‘C’ Cabaret			*	Deferred - Notification
03/04/99	Walt Stipic	1601 W. Georgia	‘F’ Marine Pub	*			YES: Notification. Hours restricted to 11 a.m. to 12 midnight/patio close 11: p.m./Time Ltd. DP/GNA/agreement to fix seating at 85
03/25/99	Sandman Hotel	180 W Georgia	‘A’ Pub	*			YES: Notification Time Ltd. DP/GN
05/31/99	Mark James	337 W. Pender	‘C’ Cabaret/ ‘D’ Pub	*			YES: Notification Time Ltd. DP/GNA/No exotic dancers/Legal Agreement to close Mr. T’s
05/25/99	Denman Station Cabaret	860 Denman	‘C’ Cabaret			*	YES: Notification until such time as the proposed changes to the provincial liquor regulations are in place
07/13/95	The Roxy Cabaret	932 Granville	‘C’ Cabaret			*	Subject to 10-year housing agreement to the satisfaction of the Manager of Housing Centre and Director of Legal Services/sound separation on the ceiling of the cabaret acceptable to Director of Environmental Health. 05/20/98: Conditions met

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver