Market residents lose liquor licence fight, seek audience with mayor
Andrew Duffy, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 15, 2018 | Last Updated: February 15, 2018 5:24 PM EST
Having lost a bid to stop another licensed establishment from opening in their neighbourhood, ByWard Market residents want to meet with Mayor Jim Watson to discuss the area’s alcohol-fuelled noise, urine and crime problems.
The residents, led by Friends of the Market and the Lowertown Community Association, had asked a provincial tribunal to deny a liquor licence to Headquarters, a combined hair salon and café that recently opened on Clarence Street.
They argued the market is already saturated with bars, restaurants and nightclubs whose disgorged revellers make life miserable for people who live in the mixed-use neighbourhood.
But in a decision released this week, the Licence Appeal Tribunal said it did not have the authority to consider broader community concerns such as noise and violence in the area.
“None of the concerns raised by the objectors were directly linked to the operation of Headquarters,” wrote adjudicator Marisa Victor. She said such concerns fall within the purview of municipal governments that control zoning bylaws and enforcement.
There was no evidence, Victor added, that the hair salon’s clients “will exhibit the behaviour of unruly nightclub patrons,” or cause trouble.
As a result, she approved owner Aydin Kharaghani’s request for a 266-seat liquor licence under the condition there be no music on the patio after 9 p.m. and that signs be posted requesting that patrons be considerate of the neighbours.
Kharaghani also owns and operates Kavali, one of the market’s biggest and most boisterous nightclubs.
Norm Moyer, a spokesman for the Lowertown Community Association, said he was disappointed with the decision.
“We’re not surprised because it seems like the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has a pretty low threshold for deciding to grant liquor licence applications,” he said. “They don’t listen much to those of us who represent the community.”
Moyer said local community groups have asked to meet with the mayor to discuss concerns about the state of their neighbourhood. “We certainly feel that it’s time,” he said. “We want the city to enforce its own bylaws.”
The city introduced a 2008 interim control bylaw to limit the proliferation of bars and nightclubs in the market, but its 100-metre separation rule is poorly enforced, Moyer said, because the city has been unable to craft a legal definition to distinguish a bar from a restaurant.
“They fail year after year, time after time, to implement that bylaw,” he said. “This is not rocket science. We want them to implement the policies they have.”
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury, however, said he believes the larger problem rests with the province’s alcohol and gaming commission, which continues to issue unrestricted liquor licences.
Fleury said it makes no sense to issue an open-ended liquor licence to a hair salon and café that allows the business to operate like a bar.
“It really gives them a golden ticket to convert this into something that’s not a retail or service industry,” he said. “Are we going to have a hair salon that’s open to 2 a.m.?”
Fleury said the province needs to modernize its alcohol and gaming commission so it can issue restricted liquor licences. “The AGCO is failing us,” he charged.
Moyer agreed. The current system, he said, allows business owners to transfer a liquor licence upon a sale. It means the new owners can open a bar, sometimes even a nightclub, based on a liquor licence issued for something else.
“It’s like having a quota for dairy production,” he said. “You have money in your pocket as soon as you get it.”
Moyer also wants Attorney General Yasir Naqvi to review the agency’s mandate so its tribunals can consider the cumulative effect of previous licensing decisions on a community. The market, he noted, now has more than 21,000 licensed seats.
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news...r-licence-fight-seek-audience-with-mayor
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