Spruce Grove asked to consider new liquor-store restrictions

Liquor store co-owner suggests city copy Edmonton’s bylaw to keep stores 500 metres apart

EDMONTON - Days after Edmonton police announced they might try to fight violent crime with reduced liquor-store hours, a Spruce Grove woman is asking her city to establish its own liquor-store restrictions.

At a meeting Monday, Spruce Grove city council will hear from Chantal McKenzie that there are too many liquor stores clustered too closely together in that community. McKenzie, her husband and her parents want the city 11 kilometres west of Edmonton to change its land use bylaw so liquor stores must be at least 500 metres apart from each other.

“We’re not saying no more liquor stores. We’re just saying one on every six blocks instead of one on every corner ... We’re asking for what the City of Edmonton has now, with a 500-metre separation,” said McKenzie, a civil engineer for Parkland County who also co-owns two Spruce Grove liquor stores with her husband, Angus.

“It’s awkward. We’re liquor store owners so people think that we only care about the competitiveness.”

Several other communities have looked at tougher liquor-store restrictions recently, including Wetaskiwin and Stony Plain. McKenzie said she wants the new distance rules to keep the community safer, not to keep competitors out.

The McKenzies already accept lost business because they close their stores at 11 p.m. daily and 10 p.m. on Sundays, hours earlier than the provincially mandated 2 a.m. closing time. They also sometimes give staff bonuses for turning away customers who can’t prove they’re over 18 years old.

“We see the problem. This is what I want to stress to council when we make this presentation: please view us as responsible liquor store owners, because we are, and we’re proud and we’re really proud of our community.”

McKenzie was born and raised in Spruce Grove and said she and her husband are very involved in a variety of community groups, including the Rotary Club, the curling club, the city’s subdivision and development appeal board and cub scouts.

“We’re concerned about the community, and right now the crime rate in Spruce Grove is through the roof,” she said. “When you look at the number of liquor stores in Spruce Grove, it’s insane.”

There are 14 liquor stores in the city and two more have received development permits, McKenzie wrote in a letter to city manager Doug Lagore. That works out to one liquor store for every 1,760 residents, she said. It’s nearly twice the provincial per-capita rate of one store per 2,983 residents, McKenzie said.

“And we’re a very young community. Twenty seven per cent of Spruce Grove is under the age of 18, so if you take them out, it gets even worse.”

Of the 14 stores, McKenzie said 11 are within 500 metres of at least one other liquor store.

Some argue Spruce Grove council shouldn’t try to control free enterprise, but McKenzie said liquor stores don’t fall into that category. “We’re highly regulated and I think that’s important. We’re selling a regulated product.”

The City of Edmonton’s zoning bylaw says liquor vendors must be at least 500 metres apart from each other. On Wednesday, deputy police chief Neil Dubord said police are considering limiting liquor-store operating hours in “distressed” neighbourhoods to reduce violent crime.

In Stony Plain, 24 kilometres west of Edmonton, councillors unanimously voted this summer to have city staff draft bylaw changes. The new rules will limit how close liquor stores can be to each other, control the number of liquor stores in Stony Plain based on the town’s population and keep liquor stores a certain distance away from child care facilities, schools, parks and open spaces.

A report to Stony Plain councillors suggested the town could keep new liquor stores at least 300 metres away from existing stores. Calgary has the same distance rule in place, the report said.

Stony Plain currently has 10 retail liquor stores, which works out to one for every 1,417 people. Residents in the town have been calling councillors to complain, said Coun. Pat Hansard, who put forward the motion to change the bylaw.

“We want to be known for many things, but we definitely do not want to be known as the community with the liquor store on every corner,” Hansard said. “And at the rate that they were developing and opening, I guarantee you that was becoming a major issue for many residents.”

About a year ago, the City of Wetaskiwin, 55 kilometres south of Edmonton, changed its rules so liquor retailers and off-sales can only sell booze between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.

In May, a Wetaskiwin RCMP staff sergeant told city council police have seen a “huge” decrease in prisoners arrested and believe the bylaw has been successful, according to a report in the local newspaper.

Spruce Grove Mayor Stuart Houston said in an email Saturday he does not want to comment on the issue until after he hears McKenzie’s presentation Monday night.