Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Standing Committee on Planning & Environment

FROM:

Chief License Inspector

SUBJECT:

Update on the Theatre Row - Granville Street Entertainment District

 

RECOMMENDATION

iii the permanent closure of the 139-seat Class ‘C’ Cabaret (doing business as The Mojo Room cabaret) located at 3684 East Hastings Street including a legal agreement to the satisfaction of the Chief License Inspector and the Director of Legal Service and that this legal agreement by signed within 9 months from the date of Council’s resolution;

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 recommend that the existing policy of requiring relocation of seats to the Granville Street Theatre Row Entertainment District be reaffirmed and that the area eligible from which seats can be relocated be expanded beyond the Granville South to include establishments in residential areas or an area of concern to the city, like the Downtown Eastside. Numerous discussions between staff and the primary investor of the Council support-in-principal Cabaret approvals for 900 & 952 Granville Street have occurred over the past few months regarding the relocation of seats as a pre-requisite for Council’s final endorsement of the two applications. The applicant has secured seats to relocate in support of each application and staff now recommend that the applications receive full endorsement.

Should Council endorse recommendations B, C and D, and the applications proceed, then the Council approved liquor licenses establishment distribution for the 900 block of Granville street would be filled. Approval on any subsequent proposal would first require Council policy to be amended.

Staff are also recommending that the other support-in-principle application on the 900 block of Granville Street (Charles Wertman’s application for 950 Granville Street) be amended to provide a specified time period to complete all of the outstanding conditions of that specific application.

Finally, staff also wish to make Council aware of the other applications in the queue behind the support-in-principle approvals and that these applications will be the subject of separate reports. The reports should be presented to Council shortly after a decision is made on the present applications in this report.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to seek Council’s approval of an amendment to the Granville Street Theatre Row Entertainment District policy, to update Council on the status of the district, to endorse two of the support-in-principle cabaret applications, and to clarify the third support-in-principle application for a neighbourhood pub.

BACKGROUND

On June 19, 1997, Council endorsed 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 a policing strategy for each block, enforcement strategies, the creation of the new residential community in the Downtown South, a preference for 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 a proposal call for applications for the Entertainment District and made minor changes to the Theatre Row Liquor Licensing Policy. Since this decision on the proposal call applications, staff have received a number of other applications for the Theatre Row Entertainment District. The majority of these applications have been for sites located on the 900 block of Granville Street, with some proposals on the 800 block and no applications for the 700 block. A summary of all applications is provided in Appendix A and a table of the seat distribution per block is provided in Appendix B.

On December 11, 1997 Council fully endorsed some of the applications from the original proposal call and gave “support-in-principle” approval to four other applications (a Neighbourhood Pub at 800 Granville, Cabarets at 900 & 952 Granville and a Neighbourhood Pub at 950 Granville). The support-in-principle application for the Neighbourhood Pub at 800 Granville Street completed the conditions of their support-in-principle approval and obtained their full endorsement approximately one year later (1998). The three remaining support-in-principle approvals (Cabarets at 900 & 952 Granville and a Neighbourhood Pub at 950 Granville) are still outstanding and the resolution of these approvals is one of the primary purposes of this report.

The original Theatre Row Entertainment District (Council approved in June of 1997) set the distribution for new liquor licensed establishments on the 900 block of Granville Street at 3 neighbourhood pubs and 2 cabarets in addition to the one existing Cabaret. That resulted in a grand total of 5 new establishments on the block and this distribution was filled with the three outstanding support-in-principle approvals (900, 950 & 952 Granville) together with the two fully endorsed applications (Neighbourhoods Pubs at 900 & 952 Granville).

The conditions of approval for the support-in-principle applications have created some problems for staff and some confusion within the industry. Possibly due to the uncertainty of whether the support-in-principle applications would proceed, a number of separate applications have been received for proposals on the 900 block of Granville Street. The applicants for the support-in-principle applications have indicated to staff that they are proceeding with their applications, though staff note that up until the beginning of this year there has not been much progress towards fulfilling the primary conditions of the Council’s approval for the applications.

As a result, an informal queue has formed for proposals on the 900 block of Granville Street with the support-in-principle approvals at the head of the line and the other applications in tow. The issue of the support-in-principle applications must be resolved so that informed decisions can be made on the remaining applications on the block. Each application shall be the subject of a separate report which shall be brought forward to Council once a decision on the recommendations of this report have been made by Council.

It should be noted that all subsequent applicants (since the summer of 1997) submitting proposals for the 900 block of Granville Street were informed that the distribution for the block was full and that staff had serious concerns about the concentration of seats for the block. Applications were processed further at the request of the applicants, knowing the that support-in-principle approvals ahead of them in the queue would affect any decision on their application. There are presently two viable applications involving the relocation of seats in this queue for the 900 block of Granville Street: 921 Granville Street & 965 Granville Street.

The 921 Granville Street application involves the relocation of the a 125-seat Downtown Eastside Cabaret and the applicant is requesting an endorsement for a 170-seat Cabaret. This application would meet the seat relocation policy if the policy is amended per Recommendation A of this report.

The application for 965 Granville Street involves the relocation of a 192-seat cabaret from the Granville South area of the downtown peninsula. The applicant is requesting a 220-seat Cabaret and a 65-seat with a 20-seat patio in exchange for the relocation of the Cabaret. The proposed relocation of this Cabaret meets the existing seat relocation policy for the Theatre Row Entertainment District. That is, this application does not require Council to amend the seat relocation policy as staff have suggested in Recommendation A.

It is anticipated that each individual report will make recommendations based on the existing approved Council policy for the 900 block (including the decisions in this report) and that any recommendations requiring a change to existing Council policy for the block shall be fully discussed and analysed in that specific report.

Sunday Hours

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, which are the subject of this report, have requested a 2:00 a.m. closing on Sunday. Staff are not prepared to support this request at this time. The issue of a 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 have conducted some preliminary discussions with residents and business operators concerning the Sunday 2:00 a.m. closing and have received some initial feedback. Feedback received during the West End liquor policy review indicated that there was some concern from area residents, but there was general support for later Sunday closings approved on a limited temporary basis. West End residents were prepared to accept later Sunday closings on long weekends (where the Monday is the holiday) immediately but did not want to increase the frequency of later Sunday openings until the rest of the city was included in the temporary approval process. Residents were concerned that if other parts of the city were not permitted the same limited temporary later Sunday closings then the West End would become a focal point for the city and possibly the lower mainland and there would be an increase in problems on those nights for residents of the West End.

Staff also anticipate that it will be possible to further consult with the public during the Central Business District (CBD) liquor policy review on these issues and bring a policy report to Council at approximately the same time or shortly thereafter depending on workloads at that time. For Council’s information, staff have supported requests from a number of establishments for a temporary extension to operating hours on the Sunday prior to a holiday Monday.

DISCUSSION

1. Expansion of Seat Relocation Policy

Staff feel that the policy to relocate seats from Granville South has been effective to some extent but feel that a broadening of the areas eligible for seat relocation would assist applicants to find establishments which can be purchased and relocated. Broadening the policy will also increase the chances of obtaining the public benefit of moving a late night use out of other residential areas of the city or from an area where there is an over concentration of liquor licensed establishments. The endorsement of recommendations B and C is contingent on the broadening of the seat relocation policy.

Staff suggest that one of the primary reasons the seat relocation policy should be broadened is to remove the ‘log jam’ created by the support-in-principle cabaret approvals for 900 and 952 Granville Street. The applicant for these two proposals stated he was unable to find any Class ‘A’ or ‘C’ seats within the downtown Granville South area to satisfy Council’s condition of the approval to relocate seats as a requirement for full endorsement of each application. The result is that the revitalization of Granville Street has stalled on the 900 block.

A second reason for amending the seat relocation policy is the effect the original policy had on cabaret seat market. The original policy created an artificial or more appropriately an inflated value for cabaret licenses within the Granville South area. By opening up the majority of the city for eligibility in the seat relocation policy staff hope to eliminate the inflated value placed on Class ‘A’ or ‘C’ licensed establishments which were available for sale.

After the three support-in-principle approvals are concluded, staff recommend that all applications in process (queue) or new proposals for the Theatre Row Entertainment District be reviewed with preference given to applications which involve the relocation of a Class ‘A’ or ‘C’ licensed establishment from Granville South. Staff feel that whenever possible the original goal of the seat relocation policy for the Theatre Row Entertainment District should be encouraged.

Finally, over the past number of years, since the inception of the Theatre Row Entertainment District, requests have been made to have the seat relocation policy rescinded or modified to, for example, allow for payment in lieu of actual seat relocation. Although it is conceivable that removal of the seat relocation requirement would hasten the further revitalization of Granville Street, the revitalization would forgo any public benefit associated with the relocation of Class ‘A’ or ‘C’ seats out of a residential area. Simply adding seats would increase the demand on Police resources, whereas a relocation of seats would only require, at most, a possible realignment of police resources (this would occur when seat relocations cross police district boundaries). It is felt that the seat relocation policy is working to a limited extent given the number of applications presently being discussed with staff, applications in process and the two cabaret relocations completed to date, but would be more effective if the policy is broadened.

2. Concentration of Seats and Establishments on the 900 block of Granville Street

Of primary concern to staff is that if all the approved, ‘support-in-principle’ and proposed seats are added up, then the total number of seats would exceed the number of seats initially allocated to the Theatre Row Entertainment District. Presently, if all the applications currently in the queue are approved by Council as is, the initial allocation of seats will be exceeded by 405 seats (not including patio seats). Staff are concerned about theconcentration of seats on the 900 block of Granville. It is staff opinion that until all of the 1,000 new seats for the Theatre Row district are operational caution should be used when reviewing any applications requesting an increase beyond that capacity to avoid an over concentration of seats on this block.

The 900 block of Granville Street presently has one existing 275-seat cabaret (The Roxy), two fully endorsed neighbourhood pubs (65 indoor and 20 patio seats each), and the two 130-seat Cabarets staff are recommending for endorsement and the support-in-principle neighbourhood pub (65 indoor and 20 patio seats). Staff presently have two applications in queue for the 900 block of Granville Street : a 170-seat cabaret and the 200-seat cabaret originally reported to Council has been withdrawn and replaced with an independent application to relocate the ‘Luv-a-fair’ Cabaret. A detailed report is forthcoming.

If all of the proposals in the previous paragraph are approved, the total number of seats on the 900 block would equal 1,185 indoor seats and 80 patio seats. This would be well in excess of 800 to 900 seats per block which was determined to be manageable by the Police Department in the original report. The two cabaret applications in queue (921 & 965 Granville Street) will be affected by the recommendations of this report in that the proposals in the recommendations (B, C & D) would fulfill the Council designated distribution for the 900 block. Furthermore, if the either of the two applications in queue is approved then the 140 seats (of the original 1,000 seats) that had been tentatively set aside for the 700 block of Granville would be used up on the 900 block. This would limit any future development of liquor licensed venues on the 700 block for at least 2 to 3 years.

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.

3. Analysis of the 2 Cabaret support-in-principle approvals for 900 & 952 Granville Street and the cabaret seats being offered for relocation

The support-in-principle approvals, granted in December 1997, for the two cabarets and the neighbourhood pub have complicated the evaluation of subsequent proposals by effectively tying up the seats allocated for the 900 block of Granville indefinitely. It was always expected that once the applicant approached staff with a proposal specifying which establishment is to be moved then staff would prepare a report with recommendations for Council’s consideration. Should Council approve the proposal, the applicant would then have received their final endorsement letter for the application.

Some 33 months have now passed, and the only facility in operation from the initial proposal call is the neighbourhood pub at 800 Granville Street. The issue of the outstanding support in principle seats had, and continues to, affect new applications for this area.

A decision can now be made on the two cabaret support-in-principle applications (900 & 952 Granville Street) which, among other conditions required an equivalent reduction in Class ‘A’ or ‘C’ seats in a nearby residential area. The applicant for these applications has now secured seats for relocation which satisfies the above condition. Staff note that, if approved, each application will require a legal agreement to ensure the permanent closure of the relocated clubs at their existing locations. This legal agreement is typically signed by three separate parties; the applicant , the property owner of the liquor licensed establishment’s existing location and the City of Vancouver. This is to ensure that the city does not end up with a cabaret at both locations.

The applicant has secured the purchase of the 124-seat Cabaret located at 686 Powell Street in the Downtown Eastside (DTES). The applicant has indicated that this cabaret shall be relocated to the 952 Granville Street site thereby fulfilling the seat relocation condition for that support-in-principle approval. Although the transfer of this cabaret from 686 Powell Street to 952 Granville Street will result in a net increase of 6 seats, staff feel this is reasonable compromise given that the cabaret is being relocated from the DTES where there is presently an over concentration of liquor licensed establishments. The provincial liquor license (License Numbers 33387 & 139333, Class ‘C’ Cabaret and Class ‘B’ Dining Lounge, respectively) at 686 Powell Street is one of the few remaining grandfathered dual liquor licenses left in the city (i.e. the old “supper club” license).

The applicant has also secured the purchase of the 139-seat The Mojo Room Cabaret located at 3684 East Hasting Street. This is also a grandfathered dual Dining Lounge/Cabaret liquor license (Provincial liquor license numbers, 117530 - ‘B’ Dining Lounge & 27284 ‘C’ Cabaret). The applicant has indicated that this cabaret will be relocated to the 900 Granville Street site. There is an application from the current license holder of The Mojo Room Cabaret to replace the cabaret with a 65-seat Class ‘D’ Neighbourhood Pub at the 3684 East Hastings Street site. Staff hope to have this report should be presented to Council at the same committee meeting, or shortly thereafter. If both applications are endorsed, then it would result in a net increase of 56 liquor license seats within the entire city (i.e. this would not be a seat for seat transfer). Details of the neighbourhood pub application will be provided in that report.

Staff feel the request to relocate combined Class C/B license to 900 Granville Street to fulfill the seat relocation condition for that support-in-principle approval is supportable even if a Neighbourhood Pub is endorsed to replace the relocated Cabaret at the 3684 East Hastings Street location. Staff support is based on the relocation of Class ‘C’ seats and the applicant’s long standing commitment in both time, effort and money to the revitalization of Granville Street.

Both relocated liquor licenses will permit the licensee to operate during the day as a restaurant from 12 noon until 7:00 p.m. and then as a cabaret after 7:00 p.m. until closing. Minors would be permitted in the establishment during the restaurant hours of operation and alcohol service during these hours must be accompanied with food. All minors would be removed prior to the cabaret operating hours at 7:00 p.m. and food service would no longer be a requirement to serve alcohol. Therefore, the addition of these particular liquor licenses to the Entertainment District will be a significant benefit to both the city and the applicant due to the possibility that the cabarets will be accessible and help revitalize the street during the daytime.

Preliminary indications from the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch are that it should be possible to transfer these types of grandfathered liquor licenses intact.

4. Analysis of the Neighbourhood Pub support-in-principle approval for 950 Granville Street

Staff also feel it is necessary to clarify and impose a time-limit on the Class ‘D’ Neighbourhood Pub support-in-principle application at 950 Granville. Therefore, staff have put forward Recommendation ‘D’ which sets a time-limit for the applicant to confirm ownership of the property and to complete the formal pre-site clearance for the application. Thus, if the applicant fails to meet the deadline imposed then Council can possibly consider other Neighbourhood pub applications for the block.

5. General information on the 700 Block of Granville Street

The 700 block of Granville Street 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 recommends that the existing policy of requiring relocation of seats be reaffirmed and that the area eligible from which to relocate seats be expanded beyond the Downtown Granville South to include establishments in residential areas or an area of concern to the city, like the Downtown Eastside. This report recommends that the two support-in-principle cabaret applications receive full endorsement now that the applicant has fulfilled the requirement to relocate seats.

Furthermore, staff recommend that the support-in-principle approval for the Neighbourhood Pub at 950 Granville Street be amended to a full endorsement subject to a number of conditions and a specified time limit.

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Appendix A:

THEATRE ROW APPLICATION STATUS SUMMARY

ADDRESS

TYPE
OF
LICENSE

LEVEL & DATE OF APPROVAL

STATUS

700 Block:

      

    No applications

n/a

n/a

n/a

800 Block:

      

800 Granville

Pub

Support-in-prin. - 12/11/97
Fully endorsed - Feb 17/98

Operating since Feb. 16, 2000

870 Granville

Pub

Fully endorsed - Dec. 16/99

In process with Province, no Dp application on file.

868 Granville

Cabaret

Application in process (seating increase)

applicant requested report be put on hold pending the outcome of Update report.

881 Granville

Cabaret

Fully Endorsed- May 12/98

Operating since July 5, 1999

900 Block:

      

900 Granville

Pub

Fully Endorsed - Dec 11/97

PSA granted by LCLB, no Dp application on file.

900 Granville

Cabaret

Support-in-Principle - Dec 11/97

required relocation of seats, Recommendation B of this rep.

921 Granville

Cabaret

Application in process -Feb/00, revised Jun 19/00

Report forthcoming, pending the outcome of the Update Rep.

950 Granville

Pub

Support-in-principle - Dec 11/97

Formal pre-site clearance req’d
Recommendation D of this rep.

952 Granville

Pub

Fully Endorsed - Dec 11/97

PSA granted by LCLB, no Dp application on file.

952 Granville

Cabaret

Support-in-Principle - Dec 11/97

required relocation of seats, Recommendation C of this rep.

957 Granville

Pub

Refused - Dec. 11/97.
Application in process -Dec/99

Applicant re-applied in Dec/99. The application is on hold pending this report but may not proceed because the business is now in receivership.

965 Granville (John Teti)

Cabaret

Application withdrawn by applicant, June 12, 2000.

Report withdrawn.

ADDRESS

TYPE
OF
LICENSE

LEVEL & DATE OF APPROVAL

STATUS

965 Granville

Pub

Application in process -May 31/00

report forthcoming, pending the outcome of this report.

965 Granville

Cabaret

Application in process -May 31/00

report forthcoming, pending the outcome of this report.

Please note that four other applications from the original proposal call, located at 700, 910 and 932 Granville Street (one proposal did not have a specific address), were refused by Council on December 11, 1997.

Finally, Permits and Licenses staff have had preliminary discussions with an owner of another cabaret about the possible relocation and downsizing of their club to the Theatre Row District.

APPENDIX B:

Distribution of Liquor License seats for Theatre Row

ADDRESS

SEATS EXISTING PRIOR TO 1997

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)

  

195 & 20p4

    

    921 Granville Street (Cabaret)

      

170

    932 Granville Street (Cabaret)

275

      

    950 Granville Street (Neigh. Pub)

    

65 & 20p

  

    952 Granville Street (Pub & Cab)

  

195 & 20p

    

    957 Granville Street (Neigh. Pub)5

        

    965 Granville Street (Cab & Pub)6

      

285 & 20p

Row Totals

1175

795

65

545

Total Seat Increase approved for Theatre Row 1000

EQUALS the total remaining uncommitted seats 140

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver

4 Assuming the 130 seat Cabaret applications are approved.

5 The applicant has gone into receivership and therefore the application is unlikely to proceed (65 seat pub & 20 patio removed from calculations).

6 The previous application was withdrawn (John Teti’s) and replaced with an application proposing to relocate the ‘Luv-a-fair Cabaret’ to the same building.