Parksville council finds some objections to local brewery application to extend hours

Mayor Doug O’Brien says he thinks the owners are very responsible business leaders in the community and the location falls victim to there being no transition zone from their commercial area to the residential area across the street. Photo: Mount Arrowsmith Brewing Company.

A local Parksville brewery is looking for support from the City of Parksville for their application to the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch to change their hours of liquor services.

Mount Arrowsmith Brewing Company is applying to change their current licensed liquor service hours from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m. to midnight seven days a week.

Parksville city council discussed feedback they received at a council meeting on April 15, from residents after a previous city council meeting on March 4 when brewery owner Matt Hill presented to council about the need to extend hours as the business continues to grow. At that previous meeting, council voted to receive public input from the community within the vicinity of the brewery regarding the change of hours.

Those in favour or opposed had until March 28 to write to the city their opinions. After the input period, the city received 18 pieces of response representing 18 people in support of the application to change the time, and five pieces of correspondence representing seven people in opposition to it. A petition of opposition was also received representing 52 people.

One of the letters of opposition came from across the street from Shelly Enterprises which owns the 57-unit Shellybrook mobile home park, a park for those ages 55 or older. They have had problems with vehicles parking on their side of Stanford Avenue despite two prominent no-parking signs from the city. As well they said their staff has had to continuously pick up garbage thrown in the bushes on their side of the street, which they claim comes from brewery clientele.

In other pieces of correspondence in opposition to the change of hours, late-night noise coming from the brewery and its outdoor seating area were cited.

Council has three options for its response to the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch for the application. Council could indicate there are no objections, indicate there is a partial objection, or indicate there is an objection to the application.

Councillor Amit Gaur said while he is in favour of seeing the growth of the business he is not in favour of compromising the peace and quiet for neighbours.

“I've heard really good things about your business,” Gaur said. “But for me, to support this at this time would be quite contrary to what I've heard from the neighbourhood.”

Councillor Sylvia Martin said she agrees with Gaur and has heard from those living at the trailer park about their concerns. She was told although the city below for noise is 11 p.m. to 9 a.m., the trailer park has its own noise bylaw of 10 p.m. to 10 a.m.

“That noise bylaw in their own little area there for those people,” Martin said. “They've been there a long time, and so that I think is significant to the bylaw that we have already for the brewery and the pub.”

Councillor Joel Grenz said he would like to see something in the middle as he understands the concerns of the residents in the area but would like to allow the brewery to meet its business goals. 

Councillor Sean Wood said he had never gotten any negative comments about the brewery before this application. Wood said he spoke with a resident opposed to the time change and they said they had never sent in any formal complaint about the business before.

“So in my mind, we have a business that is working well with the neighbourhood on the noise side of things,” Wood said.

He also said he does not think it is fair to place blame on the business for not policing the parking outside of their parking lot.

Councillor Mary Beil said while she is supportive of the business, she worries even if it’s quiet when people are inside, once they step outside the sounds will carry around the area.

“However I know full well that when people do leave somewhere if it does go till midnight, they might be quiet as mice inside but when you go outside there's going to be sounds of doors opening and closing car doors,” Beil said.

Mayor Doug O’Brien said he thinks the owners are very responsible business leaders in the community and the location falls victim to there being no transition zone from their commercial area to the residential area across the street.

O’Brien said he has seen the large support for the business from community members. 

Gaur said if the council chooses the second option to indicate there is a partial objection to the application it would allow the outdoor sitting service hours to be limited to 10 p.m. but allow the indoor service to be extended to midnight.

He said he wants to find a win-win to support the application but also wants to work with the community. He said he worries if the outdoor service ends at 10 p.m. how it would be managed to move those outside indoors.

Martin said the issue comes down to noise that could occur around 10 or 11 o’clock at night while people are leaving the brewery or standing around outside. But she said she would like to find a compromise for it.

Grenz suggested the idea of putting forward the service hours to go until 11 p.m. to align with noise bylaw hours. He also adds it is a goal for the Parksville Qualicum Tourism Association to have more business with later evening hours.

O’Brien agreed with the need for more businesses to have later hours, saying this is something he hears from people a lot during tourism season.

“We have a large amount of phone calls and requests typically during tourism season where they say ‘seriously Parksville you are in the dark ages there is really nothing to do out here at you know after a certain period of time. Really, you got a great location, and we love being here, but seriously, like it's time to maybe open up a little bit,’” O’Brien said.

The mayor said he thinks the best option would be to have the outdoor service end at 10 p.m. and then have the patrons move inside where the service can go until midnight. 

“Having been in [the outdoor and indoor seating area], the noise outside is noise of conversation, so forth,” O’Brien said. “They have no intention of having music playing after 10 o'clock. So the idea is just people out there enjoying a beverage and maybe some really good food too.”

After council discussion, Gaur suggested choosing the second option to indicate there is a partial objection to the application and have the liquor service hours stay at 10 p.m. for outdoor service and be extended to 11 p.m. for indoor service.

“I think after hearing every council member, and I think this is a good compromise, taking into account the neighbour's concerns, as Council Grenz mentioned, making it in line with the noise bylaw,” Gaur said. “People can finally be at rest and see that there will not be any noise. I think this is a good compromise.

The motion to indicate a partial objection to the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch application passed unanimously.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.