How many is too many?
Drayton Valley has more liquor and cannabis stores than most similar communities according to a report brought to town council last week. However, council were advised against taking steps to cap the number of such businesses allowed in town.
Drayton Valley currently has nine liquor stores. That works out to one for every 774 town residents. There are also six cannabis dispensaries, which is one for every 1,162 people.
Those numbers are higher than the equivalent for almost all of the Alberta municipalities surveyed by Town administration. Administration contacted 20 municipalities across the province, ranging in population from 3,461 to 39,348, with particular focus around the 5383 – 9191 population range to serve as a comparison against Drayton Valley, where the population is 6970 according to StatsCan. Of those contacted, 17 municipalities responded to the survey.
The only surveyed municipality with a great concentration of liquor and cannabis stores is Peace River, where the per capita numbers come in at 711 for liquor and 853 for cannabis. The Town of Edson, which is arguably the most similar to Drayton Valley both economically and demographically, has one liquor store for every 1,361 people and one cannabis store for every 2,042.
While Drayton Valley’s numbers appear to be high, the report notes that things could change quickly.
“As the Town currently has single digits worth of licensed stores in both the liquor and cannabis store categories … closure of approximately 2 – 3 stores in each category would be enough to bring the Town more into the middle of all observed municipalities,” it reads. “These amounts of closures are in line with the impacts a typical market correction would have on an over served sector. As a result, administration feels that leaving the success/failures up to the free market, rather than inducing any form of legislative driven impact, would be preferred.”
Jerreck Connors, the Town’s Development Planner said he’d been in touch with the municipality’s lawyers and the advice was that a limit on the number of development permits for a particular use was generally viewed as not legally supportable.
“A true cap is problematic from a legal perspective, and the advice is almost always not to do it,” he said.
The report also noted that Drayton Valley already has planning restrictions in place which effectively limit the number of liquor and cannabis stores due to required setbacks from other institutions in the community. Neither type of store is allowed to open within 150 metres of schools, care facilities, churches or parks. Those regulations are more restrictive than found in most other municipalities.
