Craft breweries and distil-leries are one step closer in Coquitlam.
City staff will begin a public consultation process with residents and industry stakeholders, and changes to the liquor bylaw are expected to come back to council for consideration by the end of the year.
Current regulations permit the production of alcohol but prohibit its retail sale for on-site or off-site consumption.
This means that craft breweries and brew pubs, which have exploded in popularity across the Lower Mainland in the last few years, have a harder time operating in the city, according to a staff report.
A few other issues will have to be dealt with if council moves forward with the regulation changes. For example, a staff report notes that current regulations force liquor stores to be separated by at least 300 m. Because brew pubs tend to cluster around one another, like in east Vancouver and Port Moody, staff said it is “unclear whether the 300 m regulation could or should” apply.
“A number of liquor manufacturers, especially cottage breweries, prefer to be in close proximity to one another… and a 300 m separation between each of them because they have an on-site endorsement would not fit this business model,” said the staff report.
The public consultation process will begin in September and a list of options will be sent to residents and stakeholders to find out what options are preferred. Letters will also be sent to all of the liquor licence holders in Coquitlam and input will also be sought from industry associations.
Coquitlam is not the first municipality in the Tri-Cities to open the door to craft breweries. Port Moody has seen two open up in the last year — the popular Yellow Dog Brewing and Moody Ales — and a third is expected in the coming months. The two established breweries are within a block of each other and the new one — Twin Sails Brewing — will be nearby.
LIMITED SUPPORT FOR LARGE-HOUSE RULES
The city of Coquitlam will tweak its residential zoning bylaws in an effort to contain the proliferation of large homes in older areas.
The move is a response to a recent public opinion survey, which found a majority of the respondents — just 44 people — did not want to see wholesale changes to the city’s building requirements.
Close to half (45.4%) of the respondents said only fine-tuning was necessary while 11.4% wanted to maintain the status quo.
Another 27.3% said density should be reduced while 4.5% called for neighbourhood specific zoning.
On Monday, council supported a recommendation that would allow staff to begin making slight adjustments to the zoning regulations for several residential categories.
The changes could lead to modifications of building size regulations and perimeter wall height. Suggested bylaw amendments are expected to come back to council in September for first reading and referral to public hearing.
The city of Port Moody has also been dealing with concerns about large homes in established neighbourhoods with its so-called “good neighbour bylaw.”
