Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Standing Committee on Planning & Environment

FROM:

Chief License Inspector

SUBJECT:

Plaza of Nations - Late Night Dance Events

 

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT Council advise the Chief License Inspector NOT to give consideration to the use of the Plaza of Nations site (Enterprise Hall ) for late night dance events.

CONSIDERATION

B. THAT Council advise the Chief License Inspector to give consideration to the use of the Plaza of Nations site (Enterprise Hall) for late night dance events, subject to the following conditions:

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS A but submits B for CONSIDERATION.

COUNCIL POLICY

There is no Council policy relevant to this subject, but at the April 26, 2001 meeting of the Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets, and while dealing with a separate but related matter, Council indicated to the Chief License Inspector to reconsider any future approvals for late night dance events at the Plaza of Nations site (Enterprise Hall).

Section 19.2 (7) of License Bylaw 4450 states:

The Inspector must not issue a late night dance event permit if, in the opinion of the Inspector, the event would unreasonably affect a community or the city at large because of

PURPOSE

Canadian Metropolitan Property Corporation, the registered property owner of the Plaza of Nations site, has again requested approval to hold late night dance events in the Enterprise Hall facility. Staff advised the owner's agent that the consent of Council would be required before applications could be given favourable consideration.

SUMMARY

Staff has not considered or approved any new late night dance events at the Plaza of Nations site since Council expressed its concern on April 26, 2001. The registered property owner is once again requesting to hold these events in this facility. Prior to considering any applications, staff indicated to the property owner that Council would have to give consent.

Staff feels that the facility has some strong positive aspects such as a location with access to transit, parking and the life safety amenities within the building, but the negative aspects of the site currently outweigh the positives. Further, as properties are developed in closer proximity to the Plaza of Nations, staff feels again that any positive aspects will be far outweighed by the negative. The main problems are with the physical construction and layout of the building, along with its location directly adjacent to False Creek.

Staff regrets the possibility that a venue which is willing to house these types of events may be lost, particularly in light of the limited number of venue operators who are willing to rent for this type of use.

The venue's ability to conduct this type of event problem free in the short term is marginal at best, and unlikely in the long term. Therefore, staff has recommended that Council instruct the Chief License Inspector to not consider late night dance permits at the Plaza of Nations (Enterprise Hall). However, staff has included a conditional support item for Council's consideration.

BACKGROUND

Since Council's approval of late night dance regulations in December 1999, approximately 26 late night dances of various sizes have been held in the Enterprise Hall. Two others were cancelled the week preceding the event. Generally, these events were for 2000 people or more. The Enterprise Hall building comprises six assembly areas: the Main Hall, B.C. Room, Theatre, Gallery, Pre-Show Lobby and Mezzanine Lounge. The combined occupant load for the building for liquor and non liquor related functions, e.g., lectures, conventions, etc., are 2,175 and 4,140 persons respectively.

Initially, late night dance events using the entire facility were granted a capacity of approximately 3,000 patrons. This capacity was supported because of a number of factors at the time, such as up-to-date fire suppression equipment and emergency lighting, adequate number of emergency exits and the requirement for fire safety and security plans for each event. In January 2001, the property owners were notified that the maximum occupant load for these types of events had been reduced to 2,700 because of issues arising from previous events.

Since Council approved the regulations, staff has worked with both Canadian Metropolitan Property Corporation and promoters to ensure the events are run as safely as possible and with minimal or no disruption to the surrounding residents and property owners. Applying the new regulations has been a learning process for all concerned: staff, venue operators and promoters. Security and fire safety plans, event details and the allowable building capacity have been modified over time as staff evaluated the results of each successive event.

Approximately ten events were held in the Enterprise Hall from December 1999 to September 2000 with minimal or no complaints. The Vancouver/Richmond Health Board estimates that during this period, the late night dance events generated no more complaints than traditional concert-type events. The natures of all complaints were considered when reviewing approval of subsequent events. Changes were often required to address any of those issues, e.g., smoking areas were moved, use of some exterior doors were restricted, additional security staff was added or reallocated. During this period, the property owner's management company limited its involvement with the dance events to the rental of the facility under specified conditions. Some of these conditions included zero tolerance for smoking in the building, primarily due to carpet damage, and only permitting a specific security company to work on the site at events.

In late August or September of 2000, the property owner entered into an agreement to sublet the Enterprise Hall facility to an independent third party, Plaza Productions Ltd. Plaza Productions Ltd., installed a new sound system and other amenities for these types of events. Plaza Productions Ltd., would then rent the facilities for specific events to individual promoters, their own promotion company, or occasionally in partnership with individual promoters.

During this eight-month period, when the rental of the hall(s) was under the control of Plaza Productions Ltd., a number of noise complaints and other problems occurred with the late night dance events held in the venue. These problems included, but were not limited to, instances of overcrowding, last minute changes/surprises to the event that required substantial changes to the security and fire safety plans, and an increase in noise complaints from surrounding residential buildings. The Vancouver/Richmond Health Board estimates that noise complaints roughly doubled during this period.

An accurate account of noise complaints is difficult to obtain, given the distances between the venue and existing residential buildings, i.e., people may be disturbed by the noise, but not know precisely from where the noise is originating. Further, using the 911 call logs to quantify the number of complaints is misleading. A standard practice with 911 operators is to not record additional noise complaints after the initial one is logged. Thus, the computer system will only display one complaint for the night, even though a number of other residents may have called in.

Staff can only speculate as to the reasons why events during this period became more problematic. Staff believes the sound system installed by Plaza Productions was too powerful for the structure, and was probably the primary contributing factor to the increased number of complaints. The venue management was a second major contributing factor. It appeared to staff that the primary focus of Plaza Productions was to book as many late night events as possible. The frequency of events increased to slightly more than two per month. Although no statistical evidence is available, staff believes the market was insufficient to support an increased number of events of 2000 or more people. A number of the events held during this period were not successful and some were cancelled outright by promoters. Whether unsuccessful or cancelled, these promoters likely suffered significant financial losses.

Staff's experience has been that when a promoter faces potentially significant losses, there is often less concern with compliance and minimizing impacts on surrounding residents, and more concern with recouping as much money as possible. This phenomenon is commonly associated with liquor licensed establishments facing financial difficulties, i.e., bars will reduce staff, promote cheap drinks, overcrowd when possible and increase music volume in order to "enhance" the atmosphere/ambience. Staff suspects that similar pressures are prevalent in this situation as well, e.g., louder music volume to enhance atmosphere, cheap tickets, less screening of ticket sales to patrons at the door.

DISCUSSION

There are two essentially separate but entwined issues raised as a result of the property owner's request. First, are these late night dance events suitable in the City of Vancouver? Recent tragic events at the late night dance at the Pacific Coliseum on October 27 exemplifies staff's concern. However, this concern must be weighed against the life safety concerns of forcing these events back underground into unsafe and dangerous buildings.

This dilemma will be the subject of a separate forthcoming report updating Council on the successes and problems associated with the late night dance permitting process. The second issue concerns whether the Plaza of Nations is a suitable venue for these types of events, which is the subject of this report and, if yes, under what conditions?

Benefits of the Enterprise Hall Facility

The facility is located in the Plaza of Nations site, which has traditionally been regarded as an entertainment centre. However, it should be noted that these types of entertainment events were never envisioned at the time the Plaza of Nations site was developed. Furthermore, the Plaza site was initially expected to be just a temporary development.

The site is conveniently located with respect to vehicle and public transit access. Bus stops and the Stadium Skytrain station are all within easy walking distance. Patrons attending the events, particularly those under the age of 18, often use public transit. Parking and a passenger drop-off area is also on the site.

The building is also equipped with adequate exits, along with up-to-date emergency lighting and fire suppression systems. The mezzanine provides a good vantage point for police and fire prevention officers to monitor the activities of the main hall where most patrons congregate. Finally, the property owner has committed to providing the following operational controls for each event, if approved.

It should be noted that all of the above, with the exception of point number five, had been a requirement of the staff team who reviewed applications for approximately the last eight events held at the Plaza of Nations.

Staff has received three unsolicited letters requesting that Council support the use of the venue for these types of events. Two of the letters are from contractors who supply a service to these events, and the other was a promoter who has held some events in the venue in the past. The property owner has also offered to forward references they have from concerned parents who toured events in the past and, subsequently, gave their approval for their children to attend the events.

Negatives of the Enterprise Hall Facility

The building is primarily a glass structure and was not designed for the containment of sound. The transference of sound to surrounding residential properties may be further compounded by the building's location adjacent to False Creek. The open expanse of water on virtually three sides provides nothing to absorb or break up sound waves emitting from the building. This is particularly problematic in the early morning hours between 2:30 and 6:30 a.m. when events are normally operating at their peak and the surrounding ambient street noise is at its lowest.

It is the above clash of loudest operating volumes versus the quietest part of the night that causes staff to question the suitability of the venue for late night dance events. The use at present for live concerts or other similar events that end before 1:00 or 2:00 a.m., (typically before 11:00 p.m.) can still be problematic, but do not cause as significantly an impact on the surrounding residential uses because of the distance between the properties and the ambient street noise. That is, the distance alone will reduce the sound to a point where it is often at the level of the ambient street noise at that time.

Staff has worked with both the property owner and various promoters to try to resolve the issue of sound escaping from the building. The following are just some of the modifications that have been implemented:

All of the above had minimal success in reducing the level of sound emissions from the building. The above measures were all taken prior to Council's request of April 26, 2001, in an effort to reduce the impact on residents of City Gate, a condominium tower development along Quebec Street between roughly Terminal Avenue and Prior Street. As the remainder of the False Creek north area, or perhaps False Creek south of Science World is developed, staff strongly doubts that any operational measures would have any benefit in reducing sound levels to that which would be acceptable to staff and residents of those buildings.

It should be noted that all of the measures suggested by staff and those offered by the property owner only present possible operational solutions to sound containment. Staff is not convinced that the sound containment problems can be resolved through changes to operating procedures only. Recent amendments to the Noise Control Bylaw regarding noise from entertainment facilities, coupled with encroaching residential development will make compliance extremely difficult.

Staff suspects that only extreme soundproofing under the guidance of an acoustical engineer in accordance with plans, and supported by an acoustical study approved by the City, would adequately contain the sound levels generated by events where the music is bass heavy and often very repetitive. Typically, sound levels for events like this can reach approximately 110 - 120 decibels (both A and C weighting) at the centre of the dance floor.

However, even if any structural alterations were undertaken, staff is still not certain that the venue would be suitable. Because of the nature of these events, staff feels that it is not adequate to simply meet the minimum requirements of the Noise Bylaw. These are temporary events, operating in non-traditional hours of the day, 12:00 midnight to 7:00 a.m., where one of the primary attractions is very loud bass driven music. A sound level that meets the Noise Bylaw requirements will still be very disturbing to the majority of area residents at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. when ambient street noise is virtually non existent in most areas of the city.

Staff has always maintained with promoters and venue operators that the expectation is that they must at all times respect the residential community. In the past, staff has not approved some facilities because of the venue's construction and/or proximity to residential buildings.

Another problem with the venue is the multiple rooms, and how this impacts logistically on the occupant load for the building as a whole, and on any specific room. As mentioned earlier, the Enterprise Hall building has a number of rooms, each with a specific occupant load which is not to be exceeded. This has been a huge logistical problem for staff, particularly when a higher total occupant load for the building was in use with the earlier events. The problems arose when patrons would crowd into a particular room for whatever reason, effectively putting that room dangerously over the room's capacity, even though the total capacity for the building may be safe. This has often put the promoter and the Fire Prevention Inspectors on site in the awkward position of regulating patron circulation within the building. Patrons, for the most part, have accepted the explanation that they cannot enter a particular room at that time because it is too crowded. This is one of the primary reasons the building's total occupant load for these types of events has been reduced over time. The other contributing factor to the reduced total occupant load was a number of incidents of significant overcrowding. One incident in particular had capacity within the building at or slightly above the limit, and another estimated 300 to 500 legitimate ticket holders stilloutside waiting in the lineup. As a result, the Fire Department felt that the occupant load should be reduced to address these safety concerns.

The property owner submits that only well managed events have been held in the past. Staff feels it should be noted that both the Police and Fire Departments have had problems with past non late night dance events held on the Plaza of Nations site. The Police have had particular problems with some of the liquor events using the Class `B' Dining Lounge liquor licensed facilities. The Environmental Health Division of the Vancouver/Richmond Health Board does not feel that sound containment is achievable, especially in light of recent changes to the Noise Bylaw, and recommends against approval of this venue.

CONCLUSION

Staff feels that the site will not be viable in the near future, once the False Creek area is further developed with residential buildings, and the site's present viability is, at best, tenuous. Staff regrets the possibility of losing a venue that is willing to house these events. Therefore, staff recommends that Council instruct the Chief License Inspector to not consider future late night dance events at the Plaza of Nations. However, staff has submitted for Council's consideration an item advising the Chief License Inspector to consider under specific conditions these types of events at the Plaza of Nations.

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