The City of Langford needs to get a new liquor license for Westhills Stadium.
Don’t get excited, though. It’s not like you’ll be able to watch the high-level rugby that’s coming to town over the next few weeks balancing three beer in your lap instead of two, and there won’t suddenly be barstools everywhere or tequila shots flowing in the stands.
According to the city’s manager of parks and recreation Mike Leskiw, the new license is being sought simply because of the bureaucracy of the liquor licensing system. Because the stadium’s temporary bleacher seating has now been replaced with permanent seating, the license needed to be re-posted and re-issued. The re-application should not affect current service levels.
“It’s just a formality,” Leskiw said. “It’s not as if the original license is being expanded, as it already covered the entire seating area.” Because the structure of the bleachers themselves was altered, however, the re-application was
necessary.
The seating was installed after a funding grant was received from the federal government in April last year for half the total cost of the upgrade. Twelve hundred seats were added at a cost of $465,000 – $232,500 of which was covered by the Western Economic Diversity Grant – raising the capacity of the stadium to around 3,500.
Mayor Stew Young said at the time the grant was announced that because of the growth in popularity of Rugby Canada events – Americas Rugby Championship events held at the stadium in both 2012 and 2013 were sell-outs – the increased seating was integral if they were hoping to continue hosing premier sporting events.
Anyone with businesses or residences within 0.8 kilometres of the stadium can register any concerns about the liquor license for the stadium can contact the Liquor Control And Licensing Branch by emailing lclb.lclb@gov.bc.ca.
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