Downtown Business - A Crap Shoot?

Doing Business In Nanaimo Shouldn’t Be A Roll Of The Dice

When City Hall changes the practical rules after a business invests, the message to investors is hard to miss.

If Nanaimo wants business investment, then business owners need to know the rules mean what they say.

The Sweet Spot Lounge on Skinner Street appears to be a good example of City Hall sending a very mixed message. The business is located where adult entertainment is permitted. It applied to extend its liquor-service hours from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. to 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Staff recommended support. The province still had the final say.

Yet council voted 5-4 to recommend against it.

Just down the street, the Palace Hotel advertises bar hours from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. So if one downtown bar can serve alcohol starting at 9 in the morning, what exactly was the objection to Sweet Spot serving from 11?

Was it alcohol?

Or was it adult entertainment?

That is the question council should answer plainly.

If there is real harm — noise, police calls, public disorder, street problems, visible adult activity, or measurable impact on neighbouring businesses — then show the evidence and deal with it.

But if the harm is mostly perceived discomfort with the type of business, then say that honestly and fix the zoning bylaw.

What council should not do is allow a business to invest under one set of rules, then use a liquor-hours application to revisit whether council now likes the business.

Real Harm Or Perceived Harm?

That distinction matters.

If the concern is public disorder, then council should point to public disorder. If the concern is noise, then show the noise complaints. If the concern is policing, then show the policing problem. If the concern is the impact on nearby businesses, then identify the actual impact and explain how extending liquor service from 11 a.m. creates that harm.

But if the concern is simply that some members of council do not like adult entertainment downtown, that is a different debate.

It may even be a legitimate debate. Council may decide Nanaimo does not want adult-entertainment venues in certain parts of the downtown core. Council may decide those uses should not be near youth-focused businesses. Council may decide the zoning bylaw needs to be changed.

Fine. Then change the zoning bylaw.

But do not pretend the issue is only daytime alcohol when another Skinner Street establishment is already advertising alcohol service from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Business Needs Predictable Rules

Doing business in Nanaimo should not be a roll of the dice. A business owner should not have to wonder whether zoning, licensing, and staff recommendations still matter once political discomfort enters the room.

Businesses make decisions based on rules. They sign leases, invest money, hire staff, renovate buildings, and take risks because the rules appear to allow them to operate.

If City Hall later decides those rules no longer reflect the kind of downtown council wants, then council should change the rules openly, fairly, and prospectively.

What it should not do is invite investment under the existing rules and then pull the rug out after the money has been spent.

Points To Ponder

If one downtown bar can serve alcohol from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m., why is 11 a.m. liquor service at Sweet Spot the problem?

If adult entertainment is the real concern, why is council not dealing with it directly through zoning?

If businesses cannot rely on the rules as written, what message does that send to anyone thinking about investing in Nanaimo?

Nanaimo cannot say it wants investment while teaching investors that the rules are only reliable until council becomes uncomfortable with the outcome.

If council does not want adult entertainment downtown, change the rules.

But do not let business owners invest under one set of rules, then make doing business in Nanaimo feel like a roll of the dice.

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Source notes: This commentary is based on public reporting about Nanaimo council’s June 22 decision regarding Sweet Spot Lounge’s liquor-service-hours application, City staff comments that adult entertainment was a permitted use, and public listings showing the Palace Hotel advertising bar hours from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m.