• HOME
  • About YQNA
    • YQNA Constitution
    • Mission Statement
    • Who We Are
  • Meeting Minutes
  • Documents
  • Important Links
  • Gallery
  • Donate
  • Join/Contact
YQNA
Toronto's loved Waterfront — to live, play and work
Category:

Nightclubs

EntertainmentNightclubsNoise

Opposition to All-Night Parties

by YQNA May 18, 2023
Enthusiastic crowd at Sugar Beach celebration. Photo: Waterfront Toronto

Efforts are underway at City Hall to expand Toronto’s nightlife until six o’clock in the morning. We have nightclubs downtown that let out at 3:30 a.m., but the vision of the City’s Night Ambassador, Councillor Michael Thompson of Scarborough, is to boost the economy further in areas of music, fashion, film, literature, visual and performance arts.

YQNA was invited to a Nighttime Economy consultation hosted by several City departments that deal with culture, tourism, zoning, bylaws and safety. A dozen other neighbourhood associations participated, with only one from the suburbs. We learned that changes in zoning and licensing for establishments will be needed to create all-night entertainment “…while balancing the need to address potential community nuisance and public safety issues,” said City staff.

No research or economic projections were offered, nor suggestions for how so many cultural sectors can work through the night — and do they even want to? Nightclubs seemed to be the driving force in this night vision, and they are strongly supported by Toronto Music Advisory Committee (TMAC). That caught YQNA’s attention, because the Waterfront already offers a vast choice of entertainment — at Harbourfront Centre, Scotiabank Arena, Rogers Centre, Second City, Fleck Theatre, Powerplant Theatre, tour boats, outdoor arenas, festivals and events in parks. It’s enjoyable, safe and ends around midnight. It is also an economic engine for Toronto.

Big nightclubs had their time on Queens Quay. The Bamboo Club and The Guvernment both created many problems in this densely populated area. The forces in charge of noise control and safety at nightclubs can barely manage the job now, so opening the doors all night would probably make it worse.

We enjoy living and working in this vibrant recreational place by the lake. It can also be loud and challenging, so the prospect of adding entertainment throughout the night is just not acceptable. YQNA let City Councillor Ausma Malik know our decision in preparation for the Nighttime Economy proposal going before Council this year.

May 18, 2023 0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
NightclubsNoiseWaterfront

Rebel Nightclub Decision

by YQNA August 27, 2018

Noise travels fast and wide on the Waterfront from the club site. (Photo: Jim Panou)

The Licence Appeal Board last week released its decision in the dispute about a new liquor licence at Rebel nightclub and its outdoor patio Cabana Pool Bar. It’s mostly a win for local residents and the Islanders. I represented YQNA.

The nightclub already has a liquor licence allowing a lot of people and amplified music outside on the patio until 11 pm Thursday through Saturday nights. It sought a new liquor license allowing a lot more people inside and outside (the application was originally for 15,000 people altogether), and longer hours and fewer restrictions on amplified music outdoors. Residents objected mainly to the amplified music and the huge numbers. The nightclub would then totally dominate the harbour and eastern waterfront.

At the 17-day hearing, the nightclub pared back its request for more patrons somewhat. The evidence was mostly about music disturbances on the Island. The upshot was mostly good news: the Tribunal ruled no amplified music on the patio at all (a big change from before), no increase in numbers on the patio, but some increase in the number of patrons inside was allowed.

An article in the Toronto Star (Aug. 26, 2018) is focused on police concerns about safety around the club, which leaves large crowds late at night in an area that is without transit.

Weirdly, the nightclub still has the old licence; it seems it can choose between the one it already has and the new one ordered by the Tribunal, which had no jurisdiction to set aside the old licence. The wording of the statute, the Liquor Licence Act, leaves something to be desired.

The nightclub has appealed to the Divisional Court.

Edward Hore
Former co-chair and solicitor for YQNA

August 27, 2018 0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
NightclubsNoiseWaterfront

Say NO to the World’s Biggest Nightclub

by YQNA January 22, 2017

Waterfront NightClub

Noise travels fast and wide on the Waterfront from the club site. (Photo: Jim Panou)

YQNA is at the center of a city-wide protest against a Waterfront nightclub that would be the largest in the world with a capacity of more than 15,000 people. That is if the Powerhouse Corporation is granted a liquor license from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). Lengthy upcoming hearings at the AGCO Tribunal start February 9 and are open to the public.

Powerhouse Corporation’s Licence Appeal Hearing starts February 9, 2017 at 9:30 am in the Tribunal’s Offices in Toronto at 20 Dundas St. W., 5th floor. Hearings will continue if necessary on February 10, 13 and 14 and March 20, 21, 30 and 31, 2017.

The co-chair of YQNA, Edward Hore, is working pro bono as our lawyer and is submitting written protests to this outsized club — from city councillors, neighbourhood associations, condo boards, Waterfront developers and businesses. Residents on the Islands near the site are represented by lawyer Robert Tanner. Ken Greenberg, prominent urban designer of the Port Lands, says this monster club is the biggest threat to the Waterfront so far, exceeding others that residents fought off, such as a jet airport, casinos, box retail stores and a Ferris Wheel.

This club application — which would top the world’s largest nightclub in Spain for 10,000 people — almost went unnoticed by the public. The club is currently called Rebel and is where the former Docks club lost its liquor license years ago in a similar imbroglio with the public. When YQNA learned the application details through councillor Pam McConnell from club owner Charles Khaboult of the Powerhouse Corporation, we started a successful campaign to engage the media. CBC TV and Radio gave extensive coverage as did The Globe and Mail. People were shocked at this news, to say the least. This mega-club would put Waterfront renewal plans for the Port Lands at risk and cause serious social, traffic and noise issues.

The enormous scale of this nightclub is not just a local Waterfront issue. It concerns millions of people who use the Waterfront as their “cottage country.” The Waterfront is also home to a growing mixed-use community that comprises North America’s largest urban renewal project under the auspices of Waterfront Toronto. To protect our precious Waterfront, you can sign this petition from the newly formed Waterfront For All  — and spread the word to your friends!

January 22, 2017 0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Waterfront Happenings

See what happened at our last meeting.

Does Toronto need two airports? Read facts and analysis by Ed Hore.

Save Ontario Place—join public outrage.

YQNA’s history with Love Park, by Braz Menezes.

Learn about the grassroots volunteer group Repair Café Toronto.

Sign a petition to bring back Harbourfront Centre’s skating rink here.

Cruise ships in Toronto Bay?

Learn about traffic improvements on Queens Quay West.

Take a look at the fascinating history of Toronto's Waterfront.

Fill out a Waterfront BIA survey to help shape our public spaces.

Big Waterfront park can transform Toronto.

City Planner Tommy Karapalevski on development at 390-396 Queens Quay West.

Senior City Planner Susan McAlpine on the latest developments at 200 Queens Quay West.

Recent Posts

  • Toronto Police Wants Your Opinion

    December 3, 2023
  • Mini Vehicles in City Traffic

    November 19, 2023
  • New Leadership in City Hall

    August 20, 2023
  • The State of Waterfront East Transit

    July 12, 2023
  • Love is in the Air

    July 1, 2023

Archives

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

@2021 - All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by PenciDesign


Back To Top
YQNA
  • HOME
  • About YQNA
    • YQNA Constitution
    • Mission Statement
    • Who We Are
  • Meeting Minutes
  • Documents
  • Important Links
  • Gallery
  • Donate
  • Join/Contact