The owners of the Driftwood Mall are forging ahead with an attempt to bring a liquor store to the shopping centre.
Bentall Kennedy, which owns the Driftwood Mall, has applied to change Courtenay’s zoning bylaw to allow a liquor store on the property.
Council previously gave third reading to bylaws allowing a liquor store at the Driftwood Mall and removing liquor store as a permitted use at the Whistle Stop Pub in September to facilitate the relocation of the licencee retail store (LRS) licence between the two sites, but these bylaws were rescinded Monday so that council could reconsider Bentall’s rezoning application.
In January, the city learned the Whistle Stop was withdrawing from the process; Bentall then asked council to consider advancing the two bylaws for the Driftwood Mall property.
Bentall is looking to have its rezoning application move forward without being tied to any specific LRS licence or any licence at all, representative Tara Brockelmann told council Monday.
“The flexibility of having an option like this will allow us to approach full-spectrum wine stores.”
Bentall is working hard to revitalize the mall and is negotiating with a national children’s wear and toy store and a national dollar store chain and working with CIBC on a possible expansion, noted Brockelmann.
“There’s a whole bunch of changes that are taking place at the mall, and we want to continue with the momentum,” she said.
Brockelmann told council that having a liquor store in the mall could help Target, which recently bought Zellers, look favourably upon keeping the store in the Driftwood Mall.
Bentall has received letters of support from Quality Foods, London Drugs and CIBC for its rezoning application, and Brockelmann has a file with more than 100 letters supporting what they are doing, she noted, adding that no one spoke against their plans during the previous public hearing.
The original application was tied to moving the Whistle Stop’s licence because there is a provincial moratorium on new LRS licences, and the provincial regulation states these stores cannot be within one kilometre of each other.
“That is a standard that has changed in the past; it was 500 metres, and it’s now one kilometre,” explained Peter Crawford, the city’s director of planning services. “It applies to retail liquor stores. The applicant has referred to a wine store, which from my understanding is different from a retail liquor store.”
Coun. Ronna-Rae Leonard, who voted against reconsidering Bentall’s rezoning application, noted that she has had some comments from people about the proliferation of liquor stores and the availability of liquor increasing problems with alcoholism and related injury and death, and she drew attention to a University of Victoria study released in January that found privatizing liquor stores results in more alcohol-related deaths in B.C.
“While I support the notion of the idea of a specialty wine shop because I think that’s kind of in keeping with being fair with what we allowed at the (Anfield Centre), I’m not quite as gung-ho to see it become another liquor store,” she said.
Coun. Jon Ambler was happy to support an application that council has endorsed in the past and that would help the Driftwood Mall strengthen its ability to attract a Target store to keep jobs and other benefits in the Valley. He pointed out that whether or not Bentall will receive a licence is up to the province.
A public hearing regarding this application will be held Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. at City Hall.
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