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
