|
CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
Date: |
October 18, 2004 | |
Author: |
Trish French | |
Phone No.: |
873-7041 | |
RTS No.: |
4564 | |
CC File No.: |
2610 | |
Meeting Date: |
November 2, 2004 |
TO: |
Vancouver City Council |
FROM: |
Director of City Plans |
SUBJECT: |
Liquor Retail Policy: Additional Consultation Program |
CONSIDERATION
THAT Council approve undertaking additional public consultation on liquor retail Policies and Guidelines, as outlined in this report, and approve $43,000 required for this work with the source of funds being the Community Services Group 2004 Operating Budget.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager submits the above for Council's consideration.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council's current liquor retail policy is reflected in
· the Zoning and Development Bylaw, where Liquor Store is a conditional approval use permitted in most commercial and heritage related zones; and
· the Beer and Wines Store Guidelines adopted in April 2003 that discuss product, spacing between stores, separation from family oriented uses, neighbourhood notification and other matters.
PURPOSE
Based on Council's request, this report outlines a broader public consultation process related to liquor retail Policy and Guidelines, for Council's consideration.
BACKGROUND
In summary, the following events have occurred in the ongoing discussion of liquor retail policy prior to September 2004.
· 2002 - 03: the Provincial Government makes a range of changes to liquor policy, including allowing existing liquor primary licence holders to apply for approval to open liquor retail outlets;
· April 2003: Council adopts the current Beer and Wine Store Guidelines in order to provide controls quickly. There is no consultation of the public or liquor retail industry at this time;
· May 2004: staff report to Council with some proposed minor alterations to the Guidelines. After hearing delegations, Council asks staff to develop a revised location policy which would have fewer possible locations than the current Guidelines (which could see 160 locations); to consult with industry; to provide more information on the relationship between liquor retail access and consumption; and to report back as quickly as possible; and
· July 2004: after having done the above, staff report back with revised Policy and Guidelines. However, due to a heavy Planning and Environment Committee agenda, consideration of the report is deferred to September.
DISCUSSION
1. Recent Recommendations, and Request for Report on More Public Consultation
On September 30, 2004 the Planning and Environment Committee considered a July 6, 2004 staff report entitled "Liquor Retail Policy and Guidelines". The key Recommendations (see Appendix A) would divide liquor stores into two categories:
· Type 1, 3000 sq. ft or less, selling beer and/or wine (Recommendation A) or also allowing spirits (Recommendation B). New location guidelines would allow significantly fewer than current Guidelines: one Type 1 store per identified local shopping area.
· Type 2, larger than 3000 sq. ft., selling any combination of product. Location policy would be similar to current policy: replacement of existing stores, plus replacement of 2 recently closed stores, and 2 new locations in emerging neighbourhoods.
Current Guideline provisions for case-by-case consideration of applications, neighbourhood notification, addressing of parking, loading, and operations issues, control of product range and hours of operation would all remain in place.
The Recommendations would result in about 31 - 36 possible new locations for liquor retail, rather than the approximately 160 locations possible under the current Guidelines.
(The staff report also described, but did not recommend, an option that would result in about 12 possible locations. Refer to Appendix A.)
The Committee was addressed by delegations from the liquor retail industry, the BCGEU, and local residents concerned about two specific liquor store development permit applications currently in process. While these applications were not under consideration at this meeting, the resident delegations urged Council to delay adopting the revised Policies and Guidelines, and undertake more public consultation.
Staff noted that if a decision to adopt new Policies and Guidelines was not made, liquor store development permit applications would need to be duly processed under the current Guidelines. There are currently 16 applications in process, including 5 whose processing is more or less complete and which are ready to report to Council. There are another 37 parties who have Provincial approval and could make a Development Permit application to the City for liquor store. In the time required for a further public consultation, Council would need to continue to make decisions on applications. This would likely leave the City with limited options for eventual location guidelines.
Council deferred decision on Recommendations A or B, and requested staff to report back on a possible broader consultation process. This report responds to this request.
2. Proposed Public Consultation Process
a. Citywide Resident Survey
Staff have found that the only effective way of consulting across the city on issues that are not high profile or neighbourhood-specific is through reaching directly to residents through a telephone survey. This survey would be statistically valid (random sample) and multilingual. It would be conducted by external survey consultant. The survey would seek opinion on the key elements of Policy and Guidelines, including:
· requiring neighbourhood notification
· requiring spacing from family-oriented uses
· requiring operations plans for parking and loading, and using time limited permits that specify hours and product mix
· the concept of having two types of stores
· the range of products in each type
· location policy options
b. Survey of Resident Groups and BIAs, Alcohol Prevention and Treatment Providers,
and Liquor Retail Industry.
This would be the same survey as above, in mail-out/mail-back form. The survey printing and distribution would be handled by staff. Data entry and reporting would be handled by the external survey consultant
(An information memo to Council on survey findings, noting whether significant changes to proposed Policies and Guidelines will be drafted before next step.)
c. Workshops with Resident and BIA Groups; Alcohol Prevention and Treatment Providers; Liquor Retail Industry
This would involve 3 separate half-day workshops to discuss the proposed Policies and Guidelines. Staff would be a resource, but the workshops would be organized and facilitated by an external consultant.
Completing items a and b, and an information report to Council, would take about 4 months. Council could decide whether to continue with item c at that time. This full consultation program would require about 7 months to complete. Upon completion of the consultation, staff would report to Council with recommended Policies and Guidelines, which might be similar to or significantly different from the current proposals.
3. Financial Implications
Currently a half time staff person is assigned to the liquor retail issue, with additional time from a senior planner. This is adequate to manage and supervise the consultation items above, as well as to answer inquiries, and prepare Council memos and reports.
An external survey firm would be needed to undertake the telephone survey, and to do the data entry and analysis of the mailed survey (items a and b). External resources would also be needed to organize all the logistics of the workshops (item c), and to facilitate them. As well, funding would be needed for facility rentals, event logistics, translations, printing, mailings, and so forth.
Costs are estimated as follows:
Survey Consultant $30,000
Workshops Consultant $10,000
Consultation Expenses $ 3,000
Total $43,000
The source of funds for this project would be remaining available funds in the Community Services Group 2004 Operating Budget. It is anticipated that about $30,000 would be spent in 2004, with the remaining $13,000 paid out in early 2005. No additional funding will be added to Community Services Group 2005 Operating Budget for the remaining activities.
4. Other Matters
At the September 30, 2004 Planning and Environment Committee meeting, questions were raised about what some other municipalities are doing to regulate liquor retail. Council requested information be included in this report. (Staff note that a round of research on this topic was completed prior to the May 2004 report.) In the interests of submitting this report as quickly as possible, and because this information is not related to the public consultation program, a separate update on municipalities current regulations will be submitted via a future memo to Council.
Delegations also raised questions about, or made suggestions for, the city's notification practices on individual applications. The Manager of the Processing Centre provided some information at Committee. However, in order that Council has an accurate account of what is done now and what might be considered in future, a separate memo on this will also be prepared.
CONCLUSION
On September 30, 2004, Council deferred decision on revised liquor retail Policies and Guidelines, and requested a report back on broader public consultation. This report outlines a program involving surveys and workshops with the full range of interests, at a cost of $43,000, with the source of funding being the Community Services Group 2004 Operating Budget. The first part of the process (items a, b and information report) would take about 4 months. The full consultation program would take approximately 7 months, after which a report would be prepared for Council decision on Policies and Guidelines. In total, if further consultation is undertaken, it will be about 9 months before new Policies and Guidelines are in place.
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APPENDIX A
PAGE 1 OF 1
At the September 30, 2004 Planning and Environment Committee meeting, decision on the following Recommendations from the staff report entitled "Liquor Retail Policy and Guidelines" (dated July 6, 2004) was postponed.
A. THAT Council approve the "Liquor Store Guidelines" generally as in Appendix A. The guidelines describe two categories of liquor stores:
· Type 1 ("boutique"): 280 sq. m. (3000 sq. ft.) or less in size, and selling wine, beer, or wine and beer, and;
· Type 2 ("regular"): more than 280 sq. m. (3000 sq. ft.) and/or selling spirits as part of the product mix; maximum size 2300 sq. m. (25,000 sq. ft.)
The proposed Guidelines describe location criteria for the two types. They also include minor adjustments to existing guidelines on spacing from family-oriented uses; and a restatement of current policy regarding new liquor retail outlets in the Downtown Eastside or Gastown.
OR
B. THAT Council approve the "Liquor Store Guidelines" generally as in Appendix A, but with the Type 1 ("boutique") definition revised to include the sale of spirits (and other aspects as described in Recommendation A above.)
The following draft resolution, which corresponds to an option discussed in the above-noted staff report, was also circulated at the Committee meeting.
THAT the "Liquor Store Guidelines" in Appendix A be amended as necessary to allow consideration of two categories of liquor store as follows:
· Type 1 ("boutique"):
-280 sq. m (3000 sq. ft.) or less in size, and selling wine, beer, and/or spirits *
