Hess neighbours vow to fight opening of new bar
February 20, 2009
Nicole MacIntyre
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/article/517478
As the city heads off to fight one Hess Village expansion, another bar for 400 patrons is under construction.
The city has already issued building permits to developer Denis Vranich to build Rok Bar in the heart of the entertainment district.
Residents are hoping to challenge the bar’s liquor licence and to generate the same level of community opposition that stalled Smooth Herman’s growth plans.
With city staff now committed to looking at Hess’s future, debate is growing over the best way to deal with misbehaviour in the village.
Downtown councillor Bob Bratina and some business owners don’t believe the answer is stopping the attraction’s expansion. Instead, they argue it’s a matter of diversifying and controlling the crowd.
“Development should continue,” says Bratina, who wants to crack down on unruly patrons and irresponsible bars through city licensing and increased policing.
But police, the neighbouring councillor and residents believe it’s a numbers game and the small village can’t handle any more people.
The entertainment district, says Councillor Brian McHattie, is just like any ecosystem — it has a carrying capacity.
“We’re well above the threshold.”
Adding more police to the area will only make it more congested, said Superintendent Bill Stewart.
In five years, he noted, the village has grown from 3,100 licensed seats to 4,600.
“When does it end?” Stewart said, adding police plan to oppose every new application.
It was the police’s unprecedented intervention into the city’s planning process that motivated councillors to fight Smooth Herman’s request for a patio expansion.
The sports bar wanted to add 249 seats, but agreed to a compromise of 90 seats.
The bylaw allows 50.
Council rejected the compromise 8-5, so the fight will go to the Ontario Municipal Board to be settled.
There is no opportunity at the city level to challenge Rok Bar, which is replacing a building that partially collapsed in 2007. The permits have been issued.
Vranich did not return a call for comment.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario approved an extension of the bar’s licence, but still requires further approvals. If the information is not provided by May, the application will be reassessed.
McHattie is encouraging residents to write to the ACGO to urge it to hold a special hearing.
James Nicholson, vice-president of the Central Neighbourhood Association, is ready to do battle. “We need to draw a line in the sand.”
The neighbourhoods around Hess find themselves “under siege” on summer nights when the village is overflowing with partyers, Nicholson said.
Marion Challe, owner of Challe Design Consultants in Hess, agrees there’s a problem with the crowd the village is attracting, but believes freezing development will only make it worse.
“I think the problem is overcrowding in the street, not necessarily in the bars,” she said, noting more licensed seats might spread out the patrons.