Halifax Councillor Admits ‘Consultation Wasn’t Great’ For Controversial Corner Store Bylaw

HALIFAX – District 7 Councillor Waye Mason admits that consultation should have been better, prior to the proposal of a controversial corner store bylaw.

The bylaw, which passed first reading in late September, would force corner stores in residential zones to close by 11 pm. Councilors like Mason argued such a restriction is needed due to the noise and disruption caused by late night customers getting pizza, while often intoxicated.

Letters were sent out to 25 corner stores that are in these residential neighbourhoods. Of those 25, only five would be forced to reduce their hours, including two on Jubilee Road, where many Dalhousie University students live.

The city only received two letters back from the 25 stores.

“I will own that the consultation wasn’t great. I’ve been pushing for some kind of solution to rein this in for years. And, when the report came (from staff), I was just happy to see that it had come,” Mason told Huddle in an interview.

“Staff should have done more… with that being said, city staff and police have been talking to those owners for years about the disruption that happens around their businesses.”

Mason has asked that the second reading of the controversial bylaw be postponed until November or December. During that time, he plans on talking to the affected corner stores and a national convenience store association. He told Huddle he is willing to see if other solutions can be found.

“But I’m not changing my mind that there’s a problem and it needs a solution. Maybe there’s a different solution…but it can’t go on the way it is. One way or another something’s going to change.”

Mason suggested one solution is for stores like Triple A Convenience and Pizzeria to stop serving pizza.

“If they want to serve pizza to students at 3 in the morning, they should rent a space in a commercial zone,” said Mason

“If they want to be a convenience store that is open past 11, then we can have that conversation. The issue is they’re serving hundreds of slices a night and there’s nowhere for people to sit, so they congregate on that corner… None of the other corner stores that don’t serve pizza stay open past midnight.”

RELATED: Store Owner Says Bylaw Targeting Noisy Students Will Ruin Business

In an earlier interview, the owner of Triple A, John Amyoony, said he had to start selling pizza and menu items in order to stay in business. Amyoony explained that it’s become harder to compete with Sobey’s and other chains when it comes to snack food, so selling hot food has become essential.

Mason responded by saying businesses, and the city, need to abide by the zoning laws.

“…That’s how zoning and regulation works. Maybe he’d make more money doing an auto repair shop or a lumber yard, but those things aren’t allowed under the land-use bylaw.”

When word went out last week that this bylaw was being considered, Halifax Twitter exploded, with most people denouncing it. Many accused the council of giving to a small group of NIMBYs who complained. Mason said such a narrative was “embarrassing” and that many people have been affected by the late-night noise.

“Anybody who knows me knows that I have no problem standing up against my own residents when they’re asking for something that’s unreasonable,” said Mason. “I would say it’s far more than a handful of people (who have complained).”

“There’s an elementary school there with 540 kids in it. They mostly walk to school, which means those kids live in houses where the homecoming stuff happens.”

Mason also pushed back against the narrative that this bylaw will make it harder for corner stores to operate within walking distance of neighbourhoods. He said the new Centre Plan leaves lots of commercial space near where people live.

“There are corner stores that serve food all around the perimeter of that neighbourhood…The Centre Plan establishes corridors of commercial strips within a 15-minute walk of everywhere on the peninsula,” said Mason.

“(The affected corner stores) are not in one of those strips, they’re in a centre of a residential zone.”

Some people have suggested the city, and the police, should focus their attention on the people making the noise late at night, rather than cracking down on the businesses that serve them. But Mason says having a constant police presence in the neighbourhood wouldn’t be fair to taxpayers.

“Are you telling me that you think the solution to this is to have police officers stationed in a residential zone all the time…? I would say that’s not appropriate.”

“I don’t think it’s fair for the taxpayer to pay to provide police security, so they (the stores) can stay open to provide a service that shouldn’t be in a residential zone.”

Mason also took aim at Dalhousie University, accusing the school of not doing enough to curb the party culture surrounding its campus. He suggested Dalhousie has a “dry campus” which leads to unsanctioned parties in the nearby residential areas.

Last Saturday, 4,000 people attended a street party that turned violent. Some have blamed Dalhousie University itself for the event.

“Dalhousie needs to step up and they need to change their culture on campus,” said Mason.

“There is evidence that Dalhousie recruits now as a party school. And that’s a selling point when they’re trying to get students to come here.”

OPINION: Council’s Misguided Corner Store Bylaw Punishes The Wrong People

In an email to Huddle, a spokesperson for Dalhousie denied being a dry campus. But they did, however, have a ban on alcohol in residences between  Sept 1-Sept 26. They also had a complete ban on alcohol in residences last year out of Covid concerns, but that ban has since been lifted. The spokesperson also denied using party culture as a recruitment tactic.

“Our recruitment efforts for potential new students certainly does not promote a party culture but focuses on the opportunity for individuals to study at one of Canada’s top research universities and to learn from professors whose research is focused on marking the world a better place.”

Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].