An application for removal of the condition with respect to hours of sales and service of alcohol and attaching of new condition with extended hours of sale and service of alcohol.
Between:
1541047 Ont. Inc. o/a The Coop Chicken and Tap House Hess Street
Applicant
and
Registrar of Alcohol, Gaming and Racing
Respondent
DECISION AND CONSENT ORDER
Adjudicator: Katherine Livingstone, Member
Appearances:
For the Applicant: Dale Vanderzwaag, company representative
For the Respondent: Tamara Brooks, counsel for AGCO
Authorities 10427 v Registrar of Alcohol, Gaming and Racing, 2016 Can LII 102500 (ONLAT)
Heard by teleconference on: March 29, 2019
INTRODUCTION
1The applicant is the owner of 1541047 Ont. Inc. o/a The Coop Chicken and Tap House Hess Street in Hamilton, Ontario. By written applicant dated September 24, 2018, the applicant requests removal of conditions of its liquor licence # 817433, pursuant to section 14(2) of the Liquor Licence Act, (the Act), on the ground there has been a change in circumstances that led to the imposition of the conditions.
2Through the public interest provisions of the Act the establishment was granted a liquor licence with the following conditions
The sale and service of alcohol shall end at the following times: a. 11:00 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday; and by midnight on Thursday through Saturday. This condition was added by the Registrar following a Public Meeting Conference Call pursuant to section 9 of the Act.
The Licensee shall ensure that sale and service of liquor on the patio will end by 11:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 12:00 a.m. Friday through Sunday. This condition was added on December 9, 2016, by the Licence Appeal Tribunal following a hearing.
3The applicant seek to have the conditions removed due to a change in circumstances.
4The proposed change in circumstances is that the only objector to the licence, a neighbour, no longer resides next to the establishment.
ISSUE
5The issue I am deciding is whether there has been a change in circumstances such that the conditions on the applicant’s liquor licence are no longer proper and necessary to give effect to the purpose of the Act.
LAW
6Subsection 14(2) of the Act permits the Tribunal to remove conditions if, on an application to remove a condition from a licence, the Tribunal finds there is a change in circumstances.
ANALYSIS
7The matter first came before me for a case conference on March 1, 2019. Up to that point, the applicant had not provided a basis for seeking the removal of the conditions due to a change of circumstances. Given the paucity of information, the respondent could not take a position with respect to the application.
8The matter was adjourned to allow the applicant time to provide information to demonstrate a change in circumstances. When the case conference resumed on March 29, 2019 the applicant advised that the neighbour, who had been the sole objector at the hearing in 2016, had moved from her residence.
9After receiving this information from the applicant and determining there was no negative compliance history, the Registrar advised it did not oppose the removal of the conditions.
10Additionally, both the applicant and the respondent consented to me, as the case conference adjudicator, making the decision on whether there had been a change in circumstances.
11I have reviewed the application and other documents submitted by the applicant and the Registrar of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission on Ontario as well as the prior 2016 decision of this Tribunal. I have also considered the submissions of the applicant and the respondent. I conclude there has been a change of circumstances in that the sole objector to the licence has now moved away from the immediate area of the establishment.
12Consequently, in accordance with my authority set out in s. 14(2) of the Act, I order the following conditions currently attached to the applicant’s liquor licence be removed:
The sale and service of alcohol shall end at the following times: a. 11:00 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday; and by midnight on Thursday through Saturday.
The Licensee shall ensure that sale and service of liquor on the patio will end by 11:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 12:00 a.m. Friday through Sunday
LICENCE APPEAL TRIBUNAL
Katherine Livingstone, Member
Released: April 15, 2019