Agenda Index City of Vancouver

LATE DISTRIBUTION

POLICY REPORT
LICENSING

TO:

Standing Committee on Planning & Environment

FROM:

Chief License Inspector

SUBJECT:

Update on the Theatre Row - Granville Street Entertainment District

 

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER’S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

On June 19, 1997, Council approved the Theatre Row Liquor Licensing Policy as follows:


On December 11, 1997, Council approved amendments to the Theatre Row Liquor Licensing Policy as follows:

SUMMARY

Staff recommends that the existing policy of requiring relocation of seats be reaffirmed and the seat allocation per block be modified to allow reallocation of some seats from the 700 block. This report also recommends that the applications that were approved in principle, but have not yet proceeded, be reevaluated should they not proceed in the next six months.

PURPOSE

To update Council on the status of the Granville Street Theatre Row Entertainment District and to reaffirm or modify the existing policy for the district.

BACKGROUND

On June 19, 1997, Council endorsed the policy report creating the Granville Street Theatre Row Entertainment District and Liquor Policy for the Downtown Granville South area. Council passed in principle a plan allocating up to 1000 new liquor license seats to be distributed throughout the 700, 800 and 900 blocks of Granville Street. The report focussed
on the policing strategy for each block, enforcement strategies, the creation of the new residential community in the Downtown South, preference to having existing liquor license seats relocate from the surrounding residential areas to the Entertainment District and the process by which staff would screen the initial applicants for proposed establishments in the district.

On December 11, 1997, Council reviewed the results of the proposal call for applications for the Entertainment District and made minor changes to the Theatre Row Liquor Licensing Policy. The decisions for those applications are as follows:

Subsequently, 800 Granville Street received a full endorsement from Council on February 17, 1998, when all of the original conditions were satisfied.

On May 12, 1998, Council endorsed the new 275-seat cabaret at 881 Granville Street (Plaza Theatre) which involved the phased relocation of 375 Class ‘C’ Cabaret seats from two cabarets in the residential area of the Downtown South area.

On December 16, 1999, Council endorsed a 65-seat neighbourhood pub at 870 Granville Street to be operated in conjunction with the Commodore Cabaret.

There are presently two applications forthcoming to Council for a decision: a combined restaurant (225 seats) and cabaret (200 seats) at 965 Granville Street, and a request for a seating capacity increase (90 seats) for the Commodore Cabaret at 870 Granville Street. Neither of these applications involves the relocation of liquor license seats.

A third application for a 65-seat neighbourhood pub at 957 Granville Street is on hold pending additional information to be provided by the applicant.

A fourth application has recently been received to relocate two Downtown Eastside cabarets, with a total of 166 seats, to the site of the Paradise Theatre at 919 Granville Street. Additional discussions are planned with the applicant to refine and clarify the scale of the proposal. Refer to Appendix A for details.

Finally, Permits and Licenses staff has recently had preliminary discussions with owners of another cabaret about the possible relocation and downsizing of another club to the Theatre Row District.

The Liquor Control and Licensing Branch has recently introduced changes that eliminate the Sunday 12:00 midnight closing for Class ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ licenses, subject to approval from the municipality. The cabaret proposals in process have requested a 2:00 a.m. closing on Sunday. Staff is not prepared to support this request at this time. The issue of later Sunday closing has citywide implications, will be very controversial in specific areas of the city (e.g.Gastown) and result in questions of perceived inequity between establishments. Staff anticipates that it will be possible to consult with the public during the West End and Central Business District (CBD) liquor policy reviews on these issues, and bring a policy report to Council at approximately the same time as those reports.

DISCUSSION

The primary issue is that the proposed number of seats vastly exceeds new seats initially allocated to the Theatre Row Entertainment District. Presently, if all the applications currently in process are approved by Council as is, the initial allocation of seats will be exceeded by 565 seats. This figure is skewed by the 325 seats that were supported in principle after the initial proposal call.

The support in principle approval for the two cabarets and the neighbourhood pub have complicated the evaluation of subsequent proposals by effectively tying up those seats indefinitely. The conditional approval for these seats was granted in December 1997. Some 26 months have now passed, and the only facility in operation from the initial proposal call is the neighbourhood pub at 800 Granville Street. It should be noted that of the new pubs endorsed by Council, the 800 Granville Street application was last in line to be reviewed by the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch. The issue of the outstanding support in principle seats is affecting new applications for this area.

Staff is also concerned about the concentration of seats on the 900 block of Granville. The block presently has one existing 275-seat cabaret (The Roxy), two fully endorsed neighbourhood pubs (65 indoor and 20 patio seats each), and the above noted support in principle seats. Staff presently has the following applications in process: a 200-seat cabaret, a 65-seat neighbourhood pub with a 20-seat patio and a 350-seat cabaret. If approved, the total number of seats on the 900 block would equal 1,345 indoor seats and 60 patio seats. This would be well in excess of 800 to 900 seats per block that was determined to be manageable by the Police Department in the original report. Staff suggests that some room for adjustment is available when dealing with applications that would result in the relocation of seats. However, caution is urged to avoid an over concentration of seats on this block.

The Police Department notes that some enforcement problems have occurred lately on the 800 and 900 blocks because of the lineups and the concentration of patrons leaving at the 2:00 a.m. closing time.

The 700 block of Granville has not received a lot of attention to date. Staff suggested in the report to Council for the Commodore neighbourhood pub application that it did not appear that opportunities on that block were forthcoming, and that some of the seats for that block could be reallocated to the other two blocks on a case-by-case basis.
CONCLUSION

The revitalization of Granville Street has developed at a slower pace than originally anticipated. With the opening of the Plaza Cabaret, the Lennox Pub and Commodore Cabaret, along with a number of new businesses, there has been a renewed interest in liquor license seats on the 800 and 900 blocks. Further expansion must be evaluated carefully to avoid an over concentration of seats and to ensure existing policies are maintained.

Staff suggests that when considering applications that request reallocating seats from the 700 block, preference be given to the proposals resulting in the relocation of existing Class ‘A’ or ‘C’ licenses, and also that Council policy requiring liquor license seat relocations for new cabarets on Granville Street be reaffirmed. Staff also recommends that the support in principle granted to three applications submitted in the original proposal call be reviewed and that staff report back if these applicants do not meet the conditions and receive final Council endorsement within six months.

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Appendix A:

Distribution of Liquor License seats for Theatre Row

ADDRESS

SEATS EXISTING PRIOR TO T-ROW REPORT

SEATS ENDORSED FULLY

SEATS ‘SUPPORTED IN PRINCIPLE’ W/CONDITIONS

PROPOSED SEATS

700 Block: (2 cabs, 1 cab & 2 pubs)

        

    No applications or existing seats.

        

800 Block: (2 pubs or 1 cab & 1 pub)

        

    800 Granville Street (Neigh. Pub)

  

65 & 20p

    

    868 Granville Street (Neigh. Pub)

  

65

    

    870 Granville Street (Cabaret)

900

    

90 addit.

    881 Granville Street (Cabaret)

  

275

    

900 Block: (2 cabs & 3 pubs)

        

    900 Granville Street (Pub & Cab)

  

65 & 20p

130 cabaret

  

    919 Granville Street (Cabaret)

      

350

    932 Granville Street (Cabaret)

275

      

    950 Granville Street (Neigh. Pub)

    

65 & 20p

  

    952 Granville Street (Pub & Cab)

  

65 & 20p

130 cabaret

  

    957 Granville Street (Neigh. Pub)

      

65 & 20p

    965 Granville Street (Cabaret)

      

200

Row Totals

1175

535

325

705

Total Seat Increase approved for Theatre Row =

1000

Less Columns Seats Fully Endorsed + Seats Supported in Principle

860

Total remaining uncommitted seats

140

Less Total Proposed Seats

705

Potential number of seats over the 1000 Seat allocation

565

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