City of Vancouver votes to reduce red tape for live performance venues

Regulatory changes approved by city council today could soon make life easier for live-performance organizers in Vancouver.

Under the changes supported today, more people will be allowed to attend live performance venues serving liquor, and a new centralized process for approving temporary indoor events of up to 250 people will be introduced. The city is also looking at changing liquor policies that affect live performance venues.

The changes were recommended as part of the city’s regulatory review on live performance venues that was launched in October 2009, and are intended to pave the way for non-traditional venues to be used on a temporary basis for cultural performances.

As the bylaw changes are underway, an interim program will be established to allow a probationary period for venue operators facing by-law issues to resolve concerns while enforcement action is deferred.

Vision Vancouver councillor Heather Deal said the implications of the regulatory changes are huge.

“I’ve never agreed that we’re a no-fun city,” she told the Straight. “I’ve always thought Vancouver’s an amazingly fun place, but we’re making it easier to have fun now.”

Senior cultural planner Jacqueline Gijssen, who presented the recommendations to council, said some of the bylaw changes approved today represent a significant change in approach for the city.

“It’s a point-8 on the Richter scale kind of shift in approach,” she told the Straight.

She added the measures approved today are some of the most critical pieces of the multi-year review that can be implemented quickly.

Ryan McCormick, the director of the Safe Amplification Site Society, told council the review represents a “historic opportunity” to fix what he called long-standing injustices in Vancouver’s music and arts communities.

But while McCormick told council he supports the measures in the report, he also expressed concern that some music venues have been shut down even as the city has been conducting the review.

“We are excited and we do think that there’s big pieces of progress, we just hope that the future phases of the report”¦will be implemented before it’s too late, before all the spaces are gone,” he said.

McCormick said he wants to see all cultural facilities considered equally. He noted there are no underground music voices represented on the city’s cultural facilities implementation team, which was used by the city for community input into the review.

“There’s only one music organization included, and that organization does classical and jazz and world music only—and with all due respect to classical and jazz fans, those aren’t the types of venue that are being shut down,” he said.

McCormick also called on council to ensure the requirements for the new streamlined licensing system for temporary live performance venues are “attainable and affordable,” for all cultural event organizers.

McCormick told the Straight he knows of four music venues that have been shut down in the last year. He said venues facing closure are typically the smaller and more affordable spaces to rent.

“Often they’re in residential neighbourhoods, which means that a single noise complaint will provoke enforcement”¦of these regulations that the venue might not have known they were even breaking in the first place,” he said.

Deal said the measures passed by council today will help to prevent venue closures in the future, as long as operators are meeting basic health and safety requirements.

“We’re not going to send an inspector around because you have one person over your occupancy limit,” she told the Straight. “The occupancy load and the fire exits has been a huge issue, and I’m really thrilled that the fire chief was here helping us say we’re going to keep you safe, but you don’t need to have all these huge restrictions on every single venue just because you’re serving a beer.”

Gijssen said the next stage of the cultural review will address broader zoning questions that impact cultural venues.

The next phase will also look at issues facing artist studios.

You can follow Yolande Cole on Twitter at twitter.com/yolandecole.

Comments

5 Comments

Marlse

Feb 4, 2011 at 1:05am

All the cool people have left this one horse "world-class" town already--you're too late!!!

Maude

Feb 4, 2011 at 8:59am

Hopefully Marlse has either left or is on the way out too...

John H

Feb 4, 2011 at 2:00pm

I've probably had over a dozen friends and Fam move to Van and move out within two years because it was either too expensive and/or too boring. Only two people I know well remain: one has her dream job in marketing for the Canucks (but still complains constantly about the lack of cultural events not aimed at the 40+ crowd), and the other is my straight-edge (never had a drink in his life) bro whose idea of fun is staying at home and playing video games (he went on a cruise during the Olympics, LOL).

lucy m

Feb 5, 2011 at 6:31pm

Vancouver is a city where you can find anything you want! Cheap live shows, expensive live shows, opera, ballet, symphony, wineries, scotch bars, fashion week, theater, restaurants, parks, kayaks, museums, movies, the mountains, the beach, conferences, meet-up groups, pool halls, skating rinks, walking trails, river cruises, swingers' parties, parties for people who like to get spanked, ballroom dancing, casinos, art galleries, golf courses...do I have to go on?

There is definitely something here for the 40+ crowd. There is something here for the any-age crowd. And it's easier than ever to find what you want, now that we have this fantastic technology called the Internet.

And so: I have no idea why people think that Vancouver is boring. If Vancouver is boring, every other city in the world must also be boring!

lucy m

Feb 6, 2011 at 11:03pm

Having said that, please, disagree with me! Please explain to me what Vancouver is lacking, and which city is superior to this one!

side comment: I'd say that Vancouver is as expensive as living in Edmonton, Toronto, or Ottawa...the added benefit being no a) freezing winters; b) smog, or at least less of it; and c) humidity, depending on which of those cities you're living in.