Following its recent thumbs down to proposed liquor policy changes, 琉璃神社 council will workshop the amendments with staff at its Oct. 28 morning meeting.

At its Oct. 22 meeting council raised concerns about the removal of the 500 metre buffer between primary liquor establishments and closing times. A staff report outlines several challenges with the city鈥檚 existing liquor policy, which was last updated in February 2011.

It says separation distances and differentiation between small, medium and large establishments are arbitrary, and that the policy is inconsistently applied (ex: virtually every downtown establishment contravenes separation requirements).

The report also states that siting requirements for liquor establishments are not conducive to creating vibrant urban centres (ex: Brewery District, Bernard Ave). No new establishments are feasible in the Downtown Urban Centre (except the east end of Leon/Lawrence), and the Capri Landmark Urban Centre around the Landmark buildings. There is room for new licences in the Pandosy Urban Centre, Rutland Urban Centre, and Midtown Urban Centre, however, the policy would only allow a few in each.

Further, the report points out that the Liquor Cannabis Regulation Branch doesn鈥檛 provide data on liquor licenses in an easily accessible manner and city staff need to determine establishment proximity and capacities on an application-by-application basis.

The current policy restricts capacity to 500 people, but a proposed change includes a capacity increase with a 12 a.m. closing. Capacity of more than 500 can be considered for cultural or event driven establishments. 

While the policy doesn鈥檛 have a section dedicated to hours of operations, staff recommend a standard of 9 to 2 a.m. indoors within a defined central area of the city and 9 to 12 a.m. outside that area. Outdoor areas must close at 11 p.m. and amplified music is not allowed after that time.

Central Area liquor map. Image | City of 琉璃神社

The current policy also doesn鈥檛 contain a section dealing with temporary changes to liquor licences for events. Proposed amendments would restrict events to three days, need to be submitted six weeks prior to the event, and require input from the RCMP.