The construction of not one, but two new liquor stores in town has raised concerns among residents, Coun. David Truckey says.
He brought the issue forward at the Sept. 26 council meeting after having heard concerns from several people.
“The local medical community has brought it to my attention, as well,” he said.
The Big Shot liquor store recently opened near the northeast corner of Highways 18 and 44, and a liquor store at Sobeys is currently under construction. This brings the total number of liquor stores in town up to seven.
“One is going in the Sobeys parking lot right between the two high schools,” Coun. Robin Brett noted. “I’m not sure how I feel about that. "
Truckey referred to an article in the Sept. 25 Edmonton Journal, which told the story of a group of liquor store owners in Spruce Grove were asking the city to put new restrictions on liquor retailers — specifically, they were calling for changes to the land-use bylaw so liquor stores would have to be 500 metres apart.
One of the liquor-store owners in the Journal article pointed out that in Alberta, there is one liquor store for every 2,983 residents while in Stony Plain there is one for every 1,760 residents.
Truckey pointed out that if those numbers are distressing, the situation in Westlock is worse. With just five liquor stores, there’s one for every 1,000 people, and with two more coming into town that’s one for every 714 people.
Even if the number includes all county residents, there is one liquor store for every 1,700 people.
Furthermore, he said, it’s his understanding that the store at the Westlock Inn has some of the highest sales figures in the province.
Truckey said he brought it to the Westlock town council just to get other councillors’ feedback on the issue, and suggested the town could consider trying to regulate hours or regulate locations.
“It’s just a drink for thought,” he said.
Mayor Bruce Lennon suggested that if anything was to be done, council would have to consider their options and act carefully.
“Assuming we wanted to do something, what options do we have as a municipality? We have to be careful we don’t exceed our jurisdiction,” he said.
Liquor store licences are given out by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, and municipalities cannot specifically prohibit new liquor retailers from moving into a town.
However, there are other options.
In the city of Edmonton, for example, liquor stores must be at least 500 metres apart, and other jurisdictions have considered imposing limits on hours of operation.
Brett suggested one way to help curb the influx of liquor stores in town would be to change liquor stores from a permitted use to a discretionary use under the town’s land-use bylaw. In this way, the town’s planning authority would have some say in if and where a new liquor store could open.
While council made no decisions on the issue at last week’s meeting, it will come up for discussion again at a future meeting.
