POLICY REPORT
LICENSING

Date: May 16, 2000
Author/Local: B. Des Lauriers/7741
RTS No. 01458
CC File No. 2630

CS&B: June 15, 2000

TO:	Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
FROM:	The General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT:	Street Vending in Gastown

RECOMMENDATION

A. That two currently vacant Gastown street vending permit locations be allocated immediately through a lottery open to all applicants in accordance with regular Street Vending Program procedures.

B. That five remaining vacant Gastown street vending permits be designated as "Artists' Permits", and that these permits be limited to the sale of non-wearable originals and prints of art works produced by the vendor.

C. That the "Artists' Permits" be allocated as soon as possible by a panel of judges who would review applications and evaluate them based on the quality of work and suitability of their product for display on the sidewalk. This process would be open to all interested applicants.

D. That an expenditure of $4,000 be approved for administration of the jury process described in Recommendation C, and that a non-refundable application fee of $100 be charged to recover costs.

E. That the two successful applicants in the process described in Recommendation A be given their choice (in draw order) of the seven locations identified in Appendix II. Further, that artists who are selected in accordance with the process described in Recommendation C be assigned to the remaining five designated locations through a random draw.

F. That initially the "Artists' Permits" be renewable annually for two years and, if the trial is successful, future allocations be renewable annually for five years.

G. That "Portrait Artists" be eligible to apply for a Busking Permit and be subject to the Council-approved Busking guidelines.

H. That the twelve vendors who were participants in the Street Place Program be permitted use the five "Artists' Permit Locations" until the successful applicants are chosen as outlined in Recommendation C. Further, that this allocation be by random lottery on a one vendor per location basis.

POLICY

The City's regular Street Vending Program was approved in 1974, with 28 vending locations established in Gastown.

In 1987, Council approved the implementation of a lottery system to allocate vacant street vending locations.

In 1992, Council reduced the number of street vending locations in the Gastown area to 14, four of which could be managed by the Gastown Business Improvement Society (GBIS) for the use of local merchants or for promotion of the area. Council also stipulated that no private vendor could hold more than one permit in Gastown (although vendors are permitted to hold up to 3 permits overall).

In 1994, Council approved a ceiling on the number of street vending permits issued in the City (100 permits in the downtown and 20 outside the downtown). Council also approved a policy change which states that new permit holders may not be located within 200 feet of an existing fixed address business selling a similar product.

In December of 1995, Council approved issuing up to three permits for the use of the Downtown Business Improvement Association (DVBIA) with six more to be divided between other BIAs as required.

In May, 1997, Council approved two additional permits to be managed by the GBIS for a total of six.

PURPOSE

This report discusses the issues arising from the termination of the Gastown Street Place Program by the GBIS and proposes policies to help resolve problems created by this cancellation and addresses artists' opportunities in the vending and busking programs.

BACKGROUND

The City's regular Street Vending Program began in 1974. When this program was created, 28 vending locations were established in Gastown. At first, demand for permits for these locations was low and there were many vacant locations which could be filled on a "first come first served" basis. This situation changed around the time of Expo 86. In the late 1980's, demand for street vending permits increased dramatically. With many more vendors on the street, conflicts also increased. In 1992, after a long consultative process, Council approved a number of changes to the vending program in Gastown including:

a) Reducing the number of vending locations in Gastown from 28 to 14.

b) Limiting each vendor to only one location in Gastown.

c) Allowing up to four street vending permits to be operated by the Gastown Business Improvement Society (GBIS).

Initially, the GBIS used its permits to accommodate two established hot dog vendors and, for a short time, a merchant who sold popcorn outside of his store. The other vending permit remained unused. Subsequently, the GBIS terminated one of the hot dog permits and the merchant dropped out of the program.

In 1997, Council approved a GBIS proposal to implement a “Street Place Program” using up to six street vending permits for various artists, vendors and performers. To facilitate this, two permits were transferred from the regular City vending program to the GBIS. In 1999, all six GBIS permits

were in use, one by the hot dog vendor with the other five being shared amongst twelve artist/vendors. A number of conflicts regarding this arrangement (including a law suit against the GBIS and the City) caused administrative difficulties to the GBIS and as a result, early this year the GBIS decided to discontinue the Street Place Program.

CURRENT SITUATION

The GBIS advised in late January, 2000 that the Street Place Program would be discontinued, effective March 31, 2000. Five of the six vending permits previously held by the GBIS expired April 30, 2000 and have not been renewed. The remaining permit has been renewed by GBIS and is being used to accommodate a hot dog vendor.

There are four Gastown vending permit holders who have been long-term participants in the City's regular vending progam. In addition, two Gastown locations were awarded in the annual vending lottery in March of this year. Therefore, there are currently six regular City vending program permits issued in Gastown and one GBIS permit, for a total of seven permits. Since current Council policy provides for up to fourteen vending permits in Gastown and seven of these have been issued, there remain seven unallocated Gastown vending permits at this time. Under existing Council policy, these seven available Gastown vending permits would not be offered until the next scheduled lottery in March, 2001.

The twelve artist/vendor participants in the Street Place Program have been left in limbo by the program's cancellation. They no longer have any permit authorizing them to vend on Gastown streets. They are requesting policy changes which will allow them to continue operating.

Developing a system which will result in a fair allocation of the remaining vending permits is difficult, for a number of reasons:

- even if Council wished to allocate each available permit to a Street Place Program vendor, there would be an insufficient number of permits (there are twelve vendors and only seven available permits).

- there are many people who were not part of the Street Place Program who have been striving for many years to obtain a street vending permit through the annual lottery. In the current year, 38 applications were received for the two Gastown vending permits. These vendors have already demonstrated their interest in vending on Gastown streets, and have expectations of being able to access any newly available locations through the same lottery process.

- existing permit holders in the City's vending program may also like to access the relatively lucrative vending locations in Gastown.

Also, to be considered, are those who City staff were unable to contact, such as applicants to the Street Place Program who were denied participation and those who may have left the program because they were dissatisfied with the manner that it was being operated by GBIS.

PROCESS

In an attempt to resolve this situation as quickly and fairly as possible, staff met with the following interest groups:

1. The artists/vendors who had been participants in the Street Place Program
2. The applicants for Gastown locations in this year's street vending lottery
3. The existing Gastown vendors in the City program and the Vancouver Vending Association
4. The Gastown Business Improvement Society

Also consulted were the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association (DVBIA) and the Robson Street Business Improvement Association (RBIA), each of which currently holds one street vending permit.

Each group was asked for input and suggestions on the following issues:

Should the vacant locations be filled for this year either permanently or as an interim measure?

If so, should the displaced vendors and/or the lottery applicants be given preference in the selection process?

What should the selection process be?

What would you recommend that Council do?

These questions became the starting point of discussions that were broad-ranging and informative. The BIAs were also asked:

What do you see as the future of BIA involvement in the vending program?

A summary of the responses received is contained in Appendix I.

DISCUSSION

The following sections discuss in detail the issues of future street vending policy in Gastown, portrait artists' eligibility for busking permits and the operation of vending permits by the BIAs.

1.) Future Street Vending Policy in Gastown

The positions expressed by the various interest groups reflect a great range of opinions about the future of street vending in Gastown. It has not been possible to develop a policy proposal which responds to all of these sometimes conflicting wishes. However, some common thoughts were expressed by all, particularly about the desirability of art as a street vending product, and where possible, proposed street vending policies have been developed with these areas of agreement in mind.

The issues which have been raised during consultations can be grouped into the following six broad policy categories:

a) Which street vending activities should be permitted?
b) How many vending locations should be permitted?
c) What method should be used to award permits to vendors?
d) Should vending be concentrated in a few locations or spread out throughout Gastown?
e) What kind of tenure should be granted to permit holders?
f) Should preferential standing be given to any person or group in allocating the available spaces?

The following sections expand on each of these issues and explain staff's recommendations for each topic.

a) Permitted Street Vending Activities

The City's regular Street Vending Program permits the sale of handcrafted items (referred to as "dry goods"), and food items approved by the Vancouver Richmond Health Board (Environmental Health). In practice, most of the dry goods vendors in the City's vending program offer crafts and jewellery items and most of the food vendors sell hot dogs. If the available Gastown street vending permits were awarded under regular Street Vending Program criteria, it is likely that most of these permits would be taken by dry goods vendors. Due to the large number of restaurants in Gastown, food vendors would be severely limitedby the guideline which restricts new vendors to locations which are a minimum of 200 feet from a competing retail outlet.

There is support amongst the interest groups for new rules which emphasize the sale of art over other products. Council could achieve this by designating some or all of the unused vending permits in Gastown as "Artists' Permits", for use by artists only. Various ways in which this could be done include:

i) Limit vending to original art works (e.g. original paintings, but no prints allowed).
ii) Limit vending to items which have been produced by the vendor.
iii) Limit vending to items which are non-wearable works of art. This would include paintings, prints and carvings, but exclude jewellery items.
iv) Limit vending to two-dimensional art works. This would permit the sale of paintings and prints only.

Staff believe that visitors and tourists to Gastown would find art work produced by the vendor as the most interesting, from a street activity point of view, because vendors in this category would likely produce their art at their vending stand. Because of the existing proliferation of jewellery vendors, it is suggested that this art work be limited to non-wearable items. Therefore, staff recommend creating a number of "Artists' Permits" and limiting holders of these permits to the sale of non-wearable originals and prints of art works produced by the vendor.

b) Number of Vending Locations

There are currently seven vendors permitted to operate in Gastown, six under the regular vending program and one hot dog vendor operating under the remaining GBIS permit. Under existing Council policy the maximum number of permits that could be issued is 14. This number was reached through a long consultative process and agreed to by both the vending community and the GBIS in 1992. Both the existing vendors and the GBIS now feel that 14 street vendors selling similar products would be too many in terms of competition. However, both groups agree that limiting a portion of these permits to the sale of artwork should reduce the impact on existing business.

Staff recommend filling all seven vacant spots, two to be issued under the regular vending program and five to be designated as "Artists' Permits". If Council should decide not to implement the proposed Artists' Program, staff suggest reducing the maximum number of vending permits in Gastown to nine.

c) Method of Allocating Permits

Under the regular Street Vending Program, vacant vending permits are awarded through a random lottery. Entrants pay a $50 fee for each entry (maximum of three entries for three different locations) to cover the administrative cost of operating the lottery and to encourage serious applicants. This process works well because it is both efficient and transparent. However, this method does not provide any means of considering product quality or neighbourhood compatibility in choosing the winning applicant.

Other methods could be considered as alternatives to this process:

i) Juried Evaluation.

This would be appropriate for an artist-oriented vending program in which artists may only sell their own work. The Social Planning Department currently uses this process to choose artists or art work for the public art program, the community public art program, and Park Board's artist in residence program. A jury of objective referees, drawn from the art community, could examine a collection of artists' work and select the best submissions based on the quality of work and suitability to the area. Additional safety guidelines (ie. welding and glass blowing would not be appropriate) and limitations on the size of the finished product (must be suitable for display on the street) could be developed by Engineering Services. The advantage of this system is that Gastown would be able to enjoy the work of top quality artists. Disadvantages of this system are that the jurying process would be more time consuming and more costly than a straight forward lottery. Staff anticipate the cost of a jury evaluation would be approximately $4,000 for an estimated 40 applicants. A non-refundable application fee of $100 would be charged to recover costs.

ii) Tendering

A tendering process would award each location based upon which vendor would pay the most. The benefit of this approach would be that the City would receive a market return for City property occupied by vendors. The disadvantage of tendering would be that it would be difficult to incorporate consideration of the factors which are addressed by the juried evaluation system (quality and compatibility).

iii) Daily Random Lottery

This procedure is used elsewhere to allocate a limited number of locations amongst street vendors. Each morning, vendors meet at a designated meeting point and a random draw is
held to allocate available locations amongst those vendors present. Positive experiences have been reported with this system, but if used for only a small number of locations there would be a significant administrative cost which would likely not be well accepted by the vendors.

Staff believe that the existing lottery system works well for regular Street Vending Program permits, and therefore this process should be applied to the two permits recommended for inclusion in this program. Because of the potential benefits to street activity in Gastown of a juried evaluation system, staff are recommending that a juried system be implemented on a two-year trial basis for the five "Artists' Permits". This system would be jointly administered by the Engineering Services and Social Planning Departments.

Regardless of the process chosen to allocate the available permits, it is appropriate to conduct the process as soon as possible.

d) Choice of Specific Locations

Staff have developed a plan (Appendix II) showing the proposals for new vending locations in Gastown. It should be noted that these locations are not the ones currently used by the Street Place Program participants. Staff feel that the proposed locations would provide a more even distribution than the current arrangement, reduce the likelihood of conflicts and address the concerns of the GBIS and the existing vendors regarding sidewalk obstructions and competition. In addition, considering that the presence of a street vendor offers advantages and disadvantages to the neighbouring retailers, the fairest approach appears to be a relatively even spacing of vending locations along both sides of Water Street.

Many vendors feel strongly that some locations are more profitable than others. Therefore, in the interest of fairness, it is recommended that the vacant locations be allocated through a random draw amongst the successful applicants.

e) Tenure

It is recommended that successful applicants under the juried evaluation process initially have the right to renew their permits for two years as a trial period for the program. At the end of this term or at the time of non-renewal, the permits would again come open for application and the process would be repeated.

If the program is well established and appears successful at the end of the two year trial, the renewal period could then be extended to five years. This would ensure some turnover in the program, give opportunities to new artists, and allow for adjustments to the program if changes become necessary.

f) Special Status for Groups or Individuals

Staff agree with the BIAs and the existing vending community who feel that no special status should be given to any group or individual. The twelve vendors who operated in the GBIS program last year were selected based on criteria established by the GBIS which may differ considerably from those of the City. There was no agreement between these vendors and the GBIS to guarantee long term presence on the street. Others were excluded from the GBIS program for a variety of reasons and may now want the opportunity to be involved with a program operated by the City. Therefore, it is recommended that the proposed allocation processes be open to all applicants who qualify under the respective guidelines.

2.) Portrait Artists

Portrait artists operate somewhat differently than other artists or street vendors.

Conventional artists/vendors display finished pieces of work for sale and can continue to work when no customer is present. They also prefer to have a fixed location where repeat customers can find them. The nature of portrait artistry is interactive, depends on a customer being present and requires less display space. Therefore, most portrait artists would prefer to be mobile in order to accommodate patterns in pedestrian movements. In this regard, portrait artists operate in a similar way to buskers and could be accommodated under a busking permit.

It is recommended that portrait artists be eligible to apply for a busking permit and operate under the guidelines approved for the busking program. Any portrait artist who wishes to have a fixed location would also be eligible to apply to the Street Vending Program.

3.) BIA Operated Vending Permits

The GBIS is willing to continue to sponsor the long standing hot dog vendor in their program. Their intention is to return the permit to the City when this arrangement ends and to have no further involvement in the operation of any street vending permits.

The DVBIA and the RBIA have each renewed one permit for this year.

The DVBIA has used up to three permits in the past and found the process to be cumbersome and time consuming. This year they renewed only one permit for a youth employment program sponsored by Family Services. They are interested in continuing this arrangement but do not wish to expand their involvement in street vending in the future.

The RBIA has used one permit for several years to accommodate a chestnut vendor who operates only in the winter months. This vendor provides a product which is not available elsewhere on Robson Street and adds to the atmosphere at Christmas time. Although the RBIA would like to continue this arrangement for the time being, the association has no interest in expanding its involvement in street vending in the future.

Under the existing street vending guidelines, permitted vendors have the right to renew their permits indefinitely. All three BIAs expressed concern that vendors become permanently entrenched on the street even though the businesses around them and the character of the neighbourhood may change. For this reason, the BIAs prefer to retain control of the remaining permits rather than turn them back to the City.

Although there is minimal use of street vending permits by BIAs at this time, the existing Council policy allows for flexibility in the system should a BIA wish to become more involved in the future. Therefore, no changes are recommended to existing Council policy related to BIA involvement with street vending at this time.

INTERIM MEASURES

If Council approves the proposed policy changes outlined in this report, staff estimate it will take approximately two months to complete the selection process for the Artists' Permits. Once selected, the vendors require some time to meet the requirements (payment of fees, obtaining insurance and acquiring a suitable display stand) before permits can be issued. Therefore, it is suggested that the five Artists' Permit locations be made available temporarily to the Street Place Program participants, who would be required to comply with the City's regular guidelines until permits are issued. A number of the Street Place vendors are portrait artists and will likely apply to the Busking Program. However, it is likely that more than five people will express interest in the temporary use of these locations. If so, staff suggest holding a random draw to assign the locations (first name selected gets first choice of location).

* * * * *

APPENDIX I

CONCERNS OF INTEREST GROUPS

1.) Participants in the GBIS Street Place Program

This group can be broken down into two subgroups:

a. Portrait artists who offer an interactive service and would prefer to be somewhat mobile (including access to other parts of the City) and may therefore, be better served by a different type of permit. This activity has much in common with street entertainment in that operators follow tourist patterns, require an audience in order to work and have less need for display space.

b. Conventional artists who create and display their work for sale and would prefer to have established locations where repeat customers can find them.

Both groups strongly feel that because they are established on the street, they should be given preference over others in the allocation of permits. They were also unhappy with the sharing aspect of the Gastown program which required them to rotate through what they considered to be the best locations.

They ultimately want the right to operate full time at the location of their choice.

2.) Street Vending Lottery Applicants

There were a total of 38 applicants for the two Gastown locations offered in this year's lottery. Although the turnout at the meeting for this group was low, some comments were received by phone. These are people who have followed the City's process for entering the vending program by applying through the lottery and paying their $50.00 non-refundable application fee. Staff see this group as representing the silent majority who feel they had a fair opportunity and were defeated by the luck of the draw. They also trust that the opportunities offered are the same for everyone and that no special treatment is given to a few who may be more vocal.

One applicant suggested that the permits should go to the highest bidder.

3.) Existing Gastown Vendors and the Vancouver Vending Association

This group will likely be strongly affected by any decision made. They feel that seven additional vendors selling similar products would severely impact their business and that of the Gastown retailers.

They are not opposed to designating some permits for an artist's program but feel no special preference should be given to any group or individual and that the fairest selection method is through open lottery. They also have concerns regarding the definition of art. One example is a vendor who paints on a grain of rice and then incorporates this product into a piece of jewellery or a key chain which then directly competes with the existing jewellery vendors. They strongly feel that any program Council establishes should restrict wearable art and other objects which could impact their business.

Another concern is the designation of locations. It is felt that a number of the locations currently used by the Gastown artists are too close to existing City locations and should be more spread out along both sides of Water Street.

4.) Gastown Business Improvement Society

The GBIS feel there are currently too many vendors selling similar merchandise (five of the seven existing vendors selling jewellery) and oppose filling any locations through an open lottery. They do support the concept of an artist's program but do not believe any special preference should be given to the people involved in their program last year. They feel the process should be open to all artists and the selection made either by simple lottery or by a panel of impartial judges based on the quality of work and suitability for the area.

They also feel that the locations used in the 1999 Street Place Program were not ideal. The close proximity of vending locations resulted in conflicts between vendors and a heavy concentration of activity in the popular areas causing obstruction of the pedestrian flow.

APPENDIX II (Cont’d)

EXISTING GASTOWN STREET VENDING LOCATIONS

BIAG1 North Side of Water 6 M West of Abbott

GT 4 South Side of Water 36 M East of Richards

GT 6 North Side of Water 10 M East of Cambie

GT 8 North Side of Water 83 M East of Cambie

GT 23 North Side of Alexander St. 20 M East of Carrall

GT 25 South Side of Water 22 M East of Abbott

GT 26 North Side of Water 17 M West of Cambie

PROPOSED GASTOWN STREET VENDING LOCATIONS

1. North Side of Alexander 6 M (10') East of Carrall

2. South Side of Water 16 M (52') West of Carrall

3. North Side of Water 44M (144') East of Abbott

4. North Side of Water 7 M (24') East of Abbott

5. South Side of Water 20 M (65') West of Abbott

6. South Side of Water 46M (150') West of Abbott

7. South Side of Water 15 M (50') East of Cordova

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver