Times-Advocate, 1999-04-21, Page 3Wednpsda
Aprii 21, 1999
Exete
In the News
Market not government should
dictate number of liquor licences
By Kate Monk'
TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF
GRAND BEND — Mar-
ket forces rather than
village council should de-
termine how many li-
censed establishments
there are in Grand Bend.
That was the opinion of
most ratepayers who at-
tended a public meeting
on Saturday morning in
Grand Bend.
Council placed a mor-
atorium on supporting
new liquor licenses in
the village at a Feb. 15
council meeting until it
could receive public in-
put.
Chairing the meeting,
Mayor Cam Ivey said
while there has not been
a formal study con-
necting Grand Bend's
high policing costs and li-
censed establishments,
he said the OPP believe
there is a relationship.
Eighty per cent of the
charges laid in Grand
Bend are liquor -related,
Ivey said. •
The Grand Bend area
has 5,800 licenses spac-
es with 4,561 of those
spaces. lying within the
village limits. The village
• pays more than
$500,000 for OPP ser-
vices which is more than
any surrounding . com-
munity.
Entrepreneurs
were opposed to
moratorium were
cerned coun-
cil was lim-
iting free
enterprise
and especially
tourism.
Jim McCoy
said whether
Grand Bend
has 22 or 24
licensed es-
tablishments
doesn't mat-
ter. If people don't want
to drink, then the num-
ber of establishments
will decrease, he pre-
dicted.
"The government
shouldn't be getting in-
volved in private en-
terprise," he stressed.
. Barry Richman agreed.
"We need to ac-
commodate visitors and
help them enjoy them-
selves," he said.
Ivey said council was
"not taking the view to
limit free enterprise" but
wanted to determine the
obligations of new busi-
who
the
con-
nesses in the village. Ivey
said parking was an is-
sue in new restaurants.
Jim Parker countered
stating the governing
body — the Restaurant
and Gaming Commission
— is re-
ducing the
importanc
e of park.
ing re-
quirement
s at a bar
because it
doesn't
"The
government
shouldn't be
getting involved
in private
enterprise."
— JIM McCOY want peo-
ple to be
driving to
a bar. The
commission is also not
concerned if a restaurant
applies for a license, he
said.
Residents were also
concerned village fees
would prevent small
businesses from up-
grading their facilities
and thus improving the
village.
A few residents didn't
believe more bars would
benefit the community
and were especially con-
cerned with noise that
carried into residential
neighbourhoods or along
the Ausable River.
3
The OPP has not giv-
en the village an analy-
sis of how policing costs
are broken down or if
licensed establishments
or house parties ac-
count for the liquor -
related charges. Ivey
said it's very difficult to
get this information
from the OPP.
Larry Broadley com-
mented the province is
getting well compensat-
ed through liquor sales
and should be helping
with the enforcement
costs. He added police
may be excessively pa-
trolling in Grand Bend
and creating "some of
the need for them-
selves."
At Monday night's
council meeting, Bob
Durrell who is applying
for a license for his new
business on River Road,
asked council to lift the
moratorium based on
the input from the pub-
lic meeting.
Council replied that it.
will discuss the public
meeting at a Committee
of the Whole meeting
on Monday night at 7
p.m. which Durrell was
welcome to attend.
Learning bus safety
McCurdy Public School Grade 8 student Pete
Phouttharath climbs out of a school bus window
during bus safety day at the school on Wednes-
day. Huron OPP Const. Don Shropshall, shown
helping Phouttharath, showed students a video,
taught them safety tips and explained to them
what to do if their driver gets hurt in an accident.
Usborne and Stephen schools also held bus safety
days last week.
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