|
CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
Date: |
November 4, 2003 | |
Author: |
Karen Hoese | |
Phone No.: |
604.871.6403 | |
RTS No.: |
03541 | |
CC File No.: |
2610 | |
Meeting Date: |
November 20, 2003 |
TO: |
Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets |
FROM: |
Chief License Inspector |
SUBJECT: |
Extended Liquor Primary Hours: Trial Period Summary |
RECOMMENDATION
THAT Council receive this report for information.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services submits this report for Council's information.
COUNCIL POLICY
On April 8, 2003, Council directed staff to consider, on a trial basis, extensions to hours of operation of the following applications: Liquor Primary applications, to the same hours of operation as on Friday and Saturday nights, on Sunday nights; and applications beyond 2:00 am within defined geographic areas and to accommodate special events.
Council has adopted area policies for the West End, Central Business District, Granville Street Theatre Row Entertainment District, Downtown Eastside, Gastown and Downtown Granville South (the latter three are "moratorium" areas).
Liquor related applications for the rest of the City are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, based on neighbourhood opinion expressed through various forms of neighbourhood consultation.
SUMMARY
Two pilot projects permitting extended hours of liquor service were initiated earlier this year: i) in the downtown peninsula, on weekend nights plus nights preceding statutory holidays and on limited special festival nights, and ii) Sunday nights city-wide.
The extended hours appear to have provided a number of positive outcomes including greater flexibility for business operators and patrons, increased entertainment options in the city and economic benefits to some of the establishments, particularly those on Granville Street. Responses in support of later closing times include that they have improved Vancouver's nightlife, are more reflective of our current economy, are appropriate for a world-class city, and argue that the impacts are part of living in a mixed-use community.
However, it was also found that the trial period for extended hours of liquor service for Liquor Primary operators in the downtown resulted in residential impacts, created economic hardships for some establishments outside the trial boundaries, and raised concerns in terms of monitoring and enforcement by Licensing staff and Police. Issues such as street noise, increased alcohol consumption, drunken or disorderly conduct, and general disruption to downtown residents were cited. Many of the problems associated with the later closing hours resulted due to the proximity of Liquor Primary establishments and residential uses to one another.
There has been very little feedback regarding the Sunday extended hours of liquor service.
A companion report "Extended Liquor Primary Hours: Comprehensive Hours of Service Policy Guidelines & Interim Policy Recommendations" dated November 4, 2003, provides Council with recommendations for an approach to the development of a Comprehensive Hours of Service policy and interim policy directions.
PURPOSE
To provide Council with a summary of the feedback received regarding the trial periods for extended hours for Liquor Primary establishments in the downtown and for Sunday extended hours city-wide.
BACKGROUND
Since 1998 the Provincial government has been conducting a comprehensive review of liquor licensing policies and regulations and in December 2002, new liquor reforms were implemented. One of the changes was to expand possible hours of liquor service to 4 am (previously 2 am), subject to municipal review and approval.
In response to the Provincial liquor reforms, on April 8, 2003, Council directed staff to conduct a comprehensive hours of service review of Liquor Primary establishments, including cabarets, neighbourhood pubs, hotel pubs and lounges, and clubs, with a report back for Council approval of a work program. As part of the initial review process, Council directed staff to implement two temporary extensions to hours of operation of the following on a trial basis:
1. Weekend Nights: To consider Liquor Primary applications beyond 2:00 am on weekend nights, within a defined geographic area, and to accommodate special events.
2. Sunday Nights: To consider Liquor Primary applications up to the same hours of operation as on Friday and Saturday nights, on Sunday nights.
The objective of these pilot projects was to enable Police and City licensing staff to identify and evaluate the impacts of later closing hours for Liquor Primary license establishments and to help form policy directions for the comprehensive hours review.
The four-month trial period for extended Sunday hours city-wide was implemented in May 2003, while the three-month trial period for extended hours beyond 2 am in the downtown started in July 2003. Both trial periods were subsequently continued to the end of November during the period of time staff required to prepare the report back to Council with the outcomes of the pilot projects and to provide policy recommendations.
DISCUSSION
Trial Period for Extended Weekend Hours
Process
The pilot project for extended weekend hours up to 4 am was implemented on a three-month trial period basis, beginning on July 4, 2003. It was subsequently continued to the end of November during the time required by staff to assess the results of the trial period and to prepare a report back to Council with this information.
The trial period was limited to the Downtown peninsula, including part of Gastown, and was open to all Liquor Primary operators including cabarets, neighbourhood pubs, club lounges, hotel pubs and lounges, and venues. Fifty-seven of the 132 eligible liquor primary establishments participated in the three month trial period. The location of participating establishments and the trial period boundary is shown in Appendix A. The breakdown of uses is detailed below, in Table 1, which shows that the extended hours were used primarily by cabarets and neighbourhood pubs. The hotels using the later hours tend to have facilities with separate entrances that are distinct from the hotel.
Liquor Primary Use |
# Participating Establishments |
Total # Establishments |
Cabaret |
24 |
29 |
Neighbourhood Pub |
9 |
10 |
Hotel Pub/Lounge |
23 |
67 |
Club Lounge |
2 |
17 |
Marine Pub |
0 |
1 |
Venue |
0 |
8 |
Total |
57 |
132 |
Table 1: Establishments Participating in Extended Weekend Hours
Those establishments participating in the trial were given the opportunity to extend their hours of service up to 4 am for liquor service on the following nights:
· Friday and Saturday nights
· nights preceding a statutory holiday, and
· some city-wide festival nights including Molson Indy (July 24 to 27), Vancouver Pride Week (July 27 to August 4) and HSBC Celebration of Lights (July 30 and August 6).
Of the 57 participating establishments, all applied for extended hours on nights preceding statutory holidays and 35 applied for various festival nights.
Operators were also permitted a 30 minute extension to the current closing tolerance period of 30 minutes, thereby providing customers a full hour to leave the establishment.
To better enable Police and City licensing staff to identify and evaluate the impacts of later closing hours for Liquor Primary licensed establishments, the trial period was set up to coincide with the busiest summer months, when doors and windows are more likely to be open and people are more likely to linger outdoors.
The approval process included input from various City departments including Licences and Inspections, Environmental Health, and Police, as well as Provincial approval. In addition, applicants were required to sign a Good Neighbour Agreement (see Appendix B) as a condition of the City's support for the temporary amendment to their licences.
Public Information and Consultation
An initial open house was held on June 4 to provide the public with an opportunity to review and comment on the implementation of the proposed trial period. A second open house was held on September 17 to update the public and to gain additional feedback on the trial period. Comment sheets and contact information were provided at both forums.
In addition, staff implemented a number of strategies to provide the public with access to information and opportunities for feedback, including the following:
_ A webpage was set up to provide information and updates on the trial period at www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/liquorreview and includes on-line comment and complaint forms for public feedback.
_ Rack cards providing background on the trial period and City contact information were distributed to libraries and community centres, participating establishments, Business Improvement Associations and other venues.
_ News releases were issued with regard to the extended hours dated May 30, July 2, September 10 and September 18.
It should be noted that the public consultation conducted during the trial period was aimed at obtaining feedback regarding the extended hours, not for policy development.
Monitoring
During the trial period Property Use inspectors have been monitoring conditions both inside and immediately outside of the establishments, as well as observing the sub-areas where the establishments are located. In addition, in response to the trial period, additional Police resources have been allocated to patrol the affected areas, with up to nine additional uniformed members deployed to the downtown area on all nights with extended hours.
To provide staff with further information and to provide better coordination in terms of monitoring, operators have been required to provide weekly status reports following each weekend indicating their actual closing hours during the past weekend, anticipated closing hours for the forthcoming weekend, and the number of patrons in their establishments on an hourly basis to closing.
Analysis and Results
A. Public Feedback
During the trial period, from July to the end of September, staff received a total of 511 responses from the public via letters, emails, phone calls, on-line complaint and comment forms, and in person. The feedback reflected the following:
_ 332 responses were in favour of the extended hours (primarily on-line reporting).
_ 14 responses supported the extended hours conditionally, i.e. some mitigations would need to take place.
_ 165 responses and one petition with 19 signatures were opposed to the extended hours.
_ 91 of the responses opposed to the extended hours were complaints against specific establishments, with the majority directed towards five establishments.
Responses received in support of the extended hours note the following about later closing hours:
_ Generally improves Vancouver's nightlife and makes the city more exciting.
_ Provides more entertainment opportunities.
_ Greater opportunity to cultivate and showcase local musical talent.
_ Provides more choices and flexibility for patrons.
_ Better reflects an increasingly "24/7" economy and lifestyle.
_ Creates more job opportunities.
_ Boost to the economy and financially beneficial for downtown businesses.
_ Good for tourism, making Vancouver a more desirable destination.
_ Reduces demand for illegal after hours clubs by providing safe regulated venues.
_ Improves safety by having more activity on the street late at night.
_ Appropriate for a world-class city.
_ Related impacts are part of living in a mixed-use community.
A number of the people who supported the extended hours noted that the hours should not be extended unless there was transit to support later closing hours and an adequate police presence.
Comments from the public not supporting the extended weekend hours included concerns such as:
_ General disruption to downtown residents.
_ Increased street noise including loud conversations, yelling and screaming, honking of horns, boom box cars, and loud vehicles and motorcycles.
_ Increased alcohol consumption, drunken and disorderly conduct.
_ Increased violence and threatening behaviour.
_ Increased vandalism.
_ Increased street littering.
_ Increased drinking and driving.
_ Later working hours for staff.
Complaints have also been received regarding specific establishments, pertaining primarily to street noise. These complaints have been focussed largely around Downtown South and Yaletown, Denman Street and Gastown.
Many of the problems associated with the later closing hours, such as street noise and disruption to local residents, are due to the proximity of Liquor Primary and residential uses to one another. A certain level of street noise is typically associated with liquor licensed establishments, particularly cabarets, and in the past when these uses have tended to be more segregated, this has been less of a problem. However, with the significant increases seen in downtown residential development, the impacts have become more pronounced.
B. Liquor Primary Operators in Trial Period boundaries
The feedback received from participating establishments was based on three sources: weekly status reports indicating closing times and hourly patron counts; a questionnaire on use of extended hours, impacts on business, and operator observations; and conversations with and written submissions from operators.
Based on weekly status reports submitted by participating establishments, not all establishments are making full use of the extended hours, although the majority are using them to some extent. Table 2 shows that, of the 57 establishments that applied for extended hours, on average they have been providing liquor service until the following times:
Up to 2:00 am |
2:01 - 3:00 am |
3:01 - 4:00 am | |
Friday |
14 |
9 |
34 |
Saturday |
14 |
6 |
37 |
Table 2: Average Closing Time of Participating Establishments
Most of the establishments that ceased liquor service prior to 2 am had a regular closing time of between 11 pm and 1 am, and took some advantage of the flexibility the extended hours provided.
The total number of patrons, on average, exiting participating establishments between 12:30 am and 4:00 am is shown in Table 3. This indicates that a large number of patrons are leaving clubs after 3:30 am, particularly on Granville Street.
Average Number of Patrons Exiting per Night | ||||
Area |
12:30-1:29 am |
1:30-2:29 am |
2:30-3:29 am |
3:30-4:00 am |
Granville Street |
341 |
287 |
282 |
1324 |
Gastown |
41 |
32 |
264 |
721 |
CBD |
137 |
135 |
187 |
467 |
Davie/Denman |
14 |
157 |
52 |
208 |
Yaletown |
- |
87 |
169 |
118 |
Average Total Patrons Exiting |
533 |
698 |
954 |
2838 |
Table 3: Average Number of Patrons Exiting per Hour
A survey was conducted of participating establishments from which 38 responses were received. The extended hours on Friday and Saturday nights were considered successful by the majority of the respondents with approximately half of them showing up to 20% increases in volume of patrons, and up to 30% increases in revenues. Over one-third indicated that they increased their staffing due to the extended hours. Approximately 25% of the respondents indicated the number of patrons frequenting their establishment and their business revenues remained the same.
Although still considered to be successful, the extended hours on nights preceding statutory holidays and on festival nights did not result in as high an increase in volumes of patrons and business revenues as on Friday and Saturday nights.
The following is a summary of observations made by participating Liquor Primary operators about the trial period:
_ Patrons generally seem to be going out later.
_ More people appear to be consuming more alcohol prior to going to the clubs.
_ Patrons are exiting the clubs over a longer period of time, typically between 2 am and 4 am.
_ Patrons seem to be more relaxed and not in a rush to move on to other destinations or to drink excessively to last call.
_ Fewer problems with people lingering after closing due to staggered hours, increased availability of taxis and less debate on "where to go next".
_ Some problems with getting taxis between 4 am and 5 am.
Some establishments have noted that they have attempted to deal with some of the noise issues by having door staff patrol the street area outside the club, move people along towards their vehicles or cabs, and ask patrons to keep voices down as they leave.
C. Liquor Primary Establishments outside the Trial Boundary
Staff have received feedback from operators located within the City of Vancouver but outside the trial area through conversations with the operators, a focus group meeting and written submissions. The trial has had significant impact on these establishments and the operators have noted that the trial period in the downtown has reduced their business considerably, particularly on weekends. As a result some operators are facing severe financial hardship. They indicate that the volume of patrons has generally decreased and that many are leaving their establishments between 11:30 pm and 1:30 am to go downtown and take advantage of the later hours. They have requested that future considerations for extended hours include operators located throughout the City, not just in the current trial area.
Staff have received similar comments from establishments in adjacent municipalities, particularly Burnaby and New Westminster, indicating that they have had a reduction in their business since the extended hours were implemented. They also report that patrons are leaving their establishments early to go to the downtown clubs with later hours.
D. Property Use Inspectors
On nights of extended hours during the trial period, Inspectors were asked to observe conditions inside and immediately outside of premises of participating establishments, street conditions in the vicinity of the establishments, and to note any serious infractions. Inspections were done through-out the trial period area; however, much of the focus was on the busiest areas, Granville Street and Gastown, as well as on establishments where recent complaints had been received.
It was observed that since not all the establishments are staying open to 4 am, patrons do seem to filter out over the course of the night, with crowds generally beginning to disperse after 2 am. However, a number of the establishments, particularly along the 900 to 1100 blocks of Granville Street, continued to be fairly busy until 4 am, with a large exodus of people occurring after 3:30 am.
There have been some crowd control issues and problems with sidewalk congestion, occasionally resulting in pedestrians being forced onto the street. Crowding has largely been due to poorly controlled line-ups outside of some of the cabarets, groups of lingering people, and patrons smoking outside. Street activity after 12:30 am has tended to be focused near the entrances of the liquor licensed establishments and around the late night food outlets.
Granville Street was the busiest area during the extended hours of operation. However, street activity during this time was described as typical of, or perhaps less, than that of regular 2:00 am closings, with the street activity itself not noticeably different from any other busy Saturday night. In Gastown, vehicular and pedestrian traffic was much lighter than on Granville Street; in the Central Business District, Yaletown and the West End very little street activity was observed.
Traffic problems were noted on Granville Street, particularly after midnight when the street would become increasingly congested with vehicles "cruising", taxis, limos and pedicabs, as well as buses, Police and City (garbage) vehicles.
Noise continues to be somewhat of an issue, particularly as some patrons leave the establishments. It has been noted that a number of the restaurants and pubs are keeping their patios open beyond the permitted time, thereby adding to the noise level of the street with loud music. The interaction between patrons in line-ups, people using the patios and pedestrians was sometimes problematic. In addition, occasional "boom cars" have been observed.
Another problem observed regularly was that garbage cans were often full and overflowing, with garbage on the sidewalks and street. Most of the garbage appears to originate from late night fast food outlets.
Both along Granville Street and in Gastown, disruptive behaviour of patrons has been noted, including loud conversations and yelling, public drunkenness, public urination, and fighting. Signs of over-service, including vomiting and obviously intoxicated people, were observed.
E. Environmental Health Comments
Environmental Health indicated that the trial for extended weekend hours resulted in a small increase in noise complaints regarding noise coming from the club operations themselves, including music escaping from the clubs and patron noise in outdoor smoking areas. For the most part these problems should be controllable with proper co-operation from club management. The complaints tended to be for clubs that are located near residences in the vicinity of Yaletown, Denman Street and Gastown. Clubs located in the Granville Entertainment district don't appear to have caused any additional `interior type' noise complaints.
There have also been an increased number of complaints regarding general street noise, including vehicle noise. Statistics for calls to the Health Authority may be quite limited as public comments were requested to be directed to Licensing staff. From the number of calls and through actual site monitoring, it is apparent that general street noise has increased substantially. This is an area where active Vancouver Police enforcement will have to continue.
The Environmental Health Division found that there were no additional problems or concerns associated with the pilot project for Sunday extended hours.
F. Police Comments
The Vancouver Police Department has some very serious concerns about the later closing hours. The benefits that had been promoted prior to the start of the experiment included a trickle out effect at bar closing, a reduction in noise and disorder issues and a decrease in illegal venues. These benefits have clearly not come to pass. We have not seen a trickle out effect and the latest City Licensing analysis shows that between 3:30 am and 4:00 am over 2800 patrons in various states of sobriety are pouring out of bars and cabarets in the small trial area to make their way home. The Police are concerned that patrons who have had a longer period of time to drink may still choose to drink and drive. They are also concerned about the apparent high migration of drinking public into Vancouver from other jurisdictions that do not have the later closing hours. From a neighbourhood perspective, the close proximity of Liquor Primary establishments and residential use areas has resulted in a dramatic increase in noise and disorder issues. There also does not appear to be any empirical evidence to suggest that there has been any decrease in illegal liquor venues.
The trial period showed that the Vancouver Police Department can not adequately police the later closing hours with existing resources. A sergeant and 8 police constables were called out, on overtime, to provide extra policing resources on both evenings. In addition, it was found necessary to call in the rest of the limited police resources in District 1 (West End) and even from elsewhere in the City in order to maintain order and deal with the fights and disorderly conduct erupting on the streets. Police are not only concerned about the 4 am bar closings, but also about the types of bars in such a small area that attract a certain type of clientele.
It is the Vancouver Police Department's position that the current 4 am closing in the Downtown core is not working. It is creating significantly more harm than it alleviates. Police are concerned that it has added significant risks to the public safety and requires a large increase in police resources to reduce this risk and maintain order.
A report with attachments has been submitted by the Vancouver Police Department providing a summary of findings, concerns and recommendations and is attached as Appendix C.
G. Public Transit Comments
Beginning in July, Translink initiated the `NightBus' late night bus service on Fridays and Saturdays, every 30 minutes from 2 am until after 4 am. This bus service includes 4 routes from Downtown: West End, UBC, New Westminster Station/Scott Road Station, and SFU. According to Translink, the NightBus has been very successful, particularly with UBC and SFU students. There has been heavy usage on all the routes with the exception of the West End route.
H. Taxi Industry Comments
The taxi industry has indicated that the extended hours of the trial period have been positive for them. By spreading out the call load over a longer period of time, the longer hours have eased the burden experienced previously between 2 am and 3 am. This has resulted in better service both to customers requiring taxis to leave the downtown as well as to customers throughout the rest of the city. There does appear to be an influx of out-of-town taxis entering the city to drop off patrons and some have been seen to pick up new fares for the trip out.
I. Tourism Vancouver Comments
In response to City Council's request, Tourism Vancouver has provided the following position with regard to later closing hours:
_ Tourism Vancouver supports the extended "late night hours" concept for the City of Vancouver. There is merit in many of Tourism Vancouver's leisure travel, international meetings and incentive markets for the destination have a positive reputation as a "late night city".
_ However, peace and safety are of paramount importance to the destination and our industry would be looking at assurances that we can maintain, and even enhance, our reputation as a safe city through this initiative.
Trial Period for Sunday Extended Hours
Process
The pilot project for extended Sunday hours was implemented for a four month period of time, beginning from the date of the extension of hours of approval in May through September 2003. The Sunday hours trial period was subsequently extended to the end of November.
Liquor Primary establishments were eligible to apply for an hours of operation extension on Sunday nights to the same hours of operation as on Friday and Saturday nights. Approximately 231 establishments were eligible (some with multiple liquor licences) for the Sunday extended hours and 34 applied. The breakdown of these establishments is shown in Table 4. It should be noted that the Sunday trial period was not publicized and that knowledge of the trial was spread primarily by word of mouth.
Liquor Primary Use |
Downtown |
Other |
Total |
Cabaret |
18 |
2 |
20 |
Neighbourhood Pub |
3 |
0 |
3 |
Hotel Pub/Lounge |
10 |
1 |
11 |
Club Lounge |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Marine Pub |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Venue |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Total |
31 |
3 |
34 |
Table 4: Establishments Using Extended Sunday Hours
Public Information and Consultation
General information, updates, and contact information on the Liquor Licensing Review, including the Sunday hours pilot project, were listed on the City webpage at www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/liquorreview. To date, there has been limited public consultation with regard to extended Sunday hours, although the public open houses for extended hours in the downtown provided opportunities for feedback.
Monitoring and Enforcement
No specific monitoring was done with regard to establishments participating in the Sunday hours trial period. Standard procedures were employed to respond to issues: complaints received from area residents with regard to specific establishments have been recorded and investigated by City staff and concerns regarding later Sunday operating hours revealed through standard licence premises checks conducted by the Vancouver Police Department have been investigated.
Analysis and Results
City staff received very little feedback specifically regarding extended Sunday hours. About six comments were received and those were balanced between support for extensions to 2 am and concerns about later noise adjacent to residential areas.
Operators participating in the pilot project for extended Sunday hours were requested to complete a questionnaire concerning use of the extended hours and any resultant issues. Twenty-two questionnaires (65%) were returned, indicating the following:
_ that the extended Sunday hours of operation were being used regularly;
_ that operators had not had any difficulties or specific complaints from surrounding property owners since the extended hours were initiated; and
_ that if later Sunday operating hours were permitted on a permanent basis, the majority of the operators would take advantage of the opportunity.
Summary
During the Sunday hours trial period only a small percentage (15%) of eligible establishments participated and very little public feedback was received by staff. There may be various reasons for this: limited negative impacts, public indifference, overshadowing by the trial period for extended weekend hours in the downtown or location of participating establishments (only three are from outside of the downtown area).
CONCLUSION
The extended hours appear to have provided a number of positive outcomes. Business operators, patrons of the establishments, and citizens applaud the move towards greater entertainment options and an improved nightlife in the city, recognition of more diverse lifestyles, and increased tourism opportunities and economic spin-offs.
The trial period for extended hours has also resulted in negative impacts. Many of the issues that have been identified in this report have emerged as a direct consequence of the proximity of bars and residential uses to one another, resulting in the disturbance of residential areas and sleepless nights for residents. In addition, the trial period has raised concerns in terms of enforcement by Police and City staff and has created economic hardships for some establishments outside the trial boundaries.
Later closing hours should not be rejected outright because of these impacts, nor should they be embraced unconditionally. For the later hours to be successful, a comprehensive policy for hours of liquor service, which includes appropriate intervention and management tools to mitigate impacts, needs to be put in place. In addition, the suitability of the extent of later hours in various parts of the city needs to be considered.
A companion report provides recommendations for an approach to the development of a city-wide Comprehensive Hours of Service policy and interim policy recommendations for extended hours.
- - - - -
APPENDIX A
PAGE 1 OF 1
MAP SHOWING PARTICIPATING LIQUOR PRIMARY
ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE DOWNTOWN
APPENDIX B
PAGE 1 OF 1
GOOD NEIGHBOUR AGREEMENT
Whereas representatives of the City of Vancouver (The "City") and the owners of the Liquor Primary liquor licensed business (The "Business") located in the City of Vancouver recognize that liquor licensed establishments have a civic responsibility beyond the legislated requirements of the Liquor Control and Licensing Act and City By-laws to control the conduct of their patrons and mitigate the Business's negative impact on the surrounding community and city resources; and
Whereas, the City and the Business agree that in recognizing this principle and for the City's support of a temporary hours of operation amendment to the Business provincial liquor license to permit liquor service up to 4:00 a.m., the Business will implement the following measures:
1. The Business will take all reasonable efforts to ensure the use of extended hours of liquor service does not adversely impact area residents, businesses, or City resources (police, fire, ambulance or Inspection personnel).
2. The Business will keep all windows and doors closed after 11:00 p.m., earlier if the Business is providing live amplified and/or band size entertainment.
3. Security staff will monitor the conduct of all patrons within the Business and will be posted at exits.
4. The Business will patrol the area and monitor the activity of patrons immediately outside the Business, particularly at closing time, to ensure orderly and timely dispersal.
5. There will be complete support for, and cooperation with the Vancouver Police Department Officers and City Inspectors conducting monitoring inspections.
6. When incidents occur which require police involvement, all Business staff will cooperate with police officers, and will not impede or obstruct the investigation in any way.
7. Business staff will check patrons as they enter and, should the need arise, will utilize metal scanners to ensure that no weapons or items of contraband are brought into the Business.
8. There will be no tolerance for criminal activity within the Business.
9. Patrons will be allowed the opportunity to purchase non-alcoholic beverages at a price which is less than the price of alcoholic beverages.
10. While it is recognized that there may be occasional price reductions or special prices offered for specific alcoholic beverages, there will be no deep discount or across the board discount prices allowed for alcoholic beverages.
11. Staff will undertake to inspect the outside of the premises each night after closing to ensure that there is no garbage left in the immediate area.
The Business acknowledges that this agreement is voluntary and that its success is based upon voluntary compliance. Despite the voluntary nature of this agreement, the Business also acknowledges that the temporary amendment to extend the hours of operation may be rescinded should the issues arise with later hours of liquor service and/or the Business is in non-compliance with the terms of this agreement.
SIGNATURE OF APPLICANT & DATE
* * * * *
