Motion to allow liquor stores into non-commercial areas of Surrey defeated by council Monday
Credit to Author: Susan Lazaruk| Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2019 23:17:24 +0000
A move that would pave the way for private liquor stores to open more easily across Surrey, including in residential neighbourhoods, was defeated this week by city council.
The motion to “expand liquor retailers in Surrey without public consultation and contrary to staff recommendations” was defeated unanimously by councillors at a Surrey city council meeting Monday, Couns. Brenda Locke and Jack Hundial said.
Locke said she doesn’t know why the motion was put forward in the city, which she said is well-served by 55 liquor outlets.
“There hasn’t been a great hue and cry” from citizens or businesspeople to change the rules governing how liquor store licences are granted, she said.
And she and Hundial point out that the city’s planning and development department in a report on zoning regulation options for private liquor stores at first recommended the city maintain the existing process, which limits such stores to certain zones, or apply for a rezoning permit that would require a public hearing.
Staff noted that allowing liquor retail outlets without individual requirements for rezoning would lead to more outlets in areas away from town centres or community shopping centres.
Mayor Doug McCallum and four Safe Surrey councillors earlier this month voted to forward the motion to a public hearing Oct. 21.
“This process was supported by the majority of council on a 5-4 vote all the way to a third reading,” said Hundial and Locke in the statement.
Locke said she received many letters and emails from citizens opposed to the motion and six people spoke out against removing public consultation from the process Monday. The mayor and four councillors changed their votes and the motion was defeated unanimously, 9-0.
“It was because of the pressure put on by the public,” said Locke. She said opposition came from the faith community and citizens, and there were social media postings opposing the change. “This was the public being active. The public was against it, especially in neighbourhoods.”
Safe Surrey Coun. Mandeep Nagra told the media that approving the motion would create jobs in Surrey.
Requests for comment from McCallum and councillors Nagra, Doug Elford, Allison Patton and Laurie Guerra weren’t returned.
Locke said she was further perplexed by the motion to increase the number of liquor outlets in the city when the city has forbidden the licensing of cannabis stores.
“It makes no sense to encourage one intoxicant and to deny the other,” she said.
Devin McGuire, who runs three recovery houses for recovering alcoholics, spoke out against the motion at the council meeting because he said alcohol is already readily available in commercial and retail areas.
“I don’t understand why you’d put it in a neighbourhood,” he said. “What’s next? Are they going to allow cannabis stores in residential areas? There are so many other types of businesses that (instead) would be good for the neighbourhood.”