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13 September 2002
uwRyan.com This website is meant to provide value to UW student by delivering information. It will also supplement the column that I write for Imprint by providing extra information on some of the topics about which I will write in addition to the text of each column. Please provide feedback on what I write as well as give me suggestions of topics to cover. You can send e-mail to me to ryan[at]uwryan[dot]com. |
UW holds key to Feds liquorUniversity as licence holder is middle man for orders and changes
There are four organizations on campus that hold liquor licences, yet there are five that serve alcohol. The four are: University of Waterloo, University Club, St. Jerome’s University and Graduate Student Association. The odd one out and the business with, by far, the largest bar operations is the Federation of Students. On Wednesday night, Bombshelter patrons were crowded into one half of the patio because there were problems with the application for the newly-expanded part of the patio. How are these things related? The former setup may have caused the latter situation, because it requires Feds to process its liquor licence application through the university. With the university as a middleman, the process moved more slowly since problems with the licence had to be worked out through communication between more people. The Feds pub in the SLC has significantly smaller capacity than its space would normally allow because the new space on the patio expansion had not yet been licensed. Feds VPAF Chris DiLullo says that he submitted the paperwork for the extension in June but that at the end of August the university had not filed the application with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). As long as the requirements of the building code and fire code are met, the capacity of an establishment is one patron for every 1.11 square metres, or 12 square feet. The indoor section of the Bomber is licenced for 373 patrons, and the capacity of the old patio was 165. The old patio is 240 square metres and the extension of 242 square metres roughly doubles it. The whole new patio has a capacity of 434. This is more than double the current licensed capacity due to another restriction or a patio expansion in the past that was not accompanied by a licence extension. Ground Zero, which was used as an in-bar line or waiting area, won’t be used this year according to DiLullo. Director of business operations Bud Walker holds the licence for the university and hence for the Feds. Speaking on the university as licence holder, Walker said, “It gives the university more control over the service of alcohol on campus. Alcohol is important because when you look at instances of assault or violence, alcohol is often involved and we want to make sure we minimize that.” Agreements between the Feds and UW require the university to be the licence holder and all alcohol provision and distributions must go through the university. The Feds avoid some liability by allowing their the licence to be held by a third party. There would be no particular problem if Feds bar operations were as responsible with their own licence as they are now. The BarSafe staff training program one thing that would ensure that. A section of the liquor licence regulations requires agreements on relationships like the one between Feds and the university to be filed with AGCO. Section 93 of regulation 719 requires that if a person — as a corporation the Feds is a person in a legal sense — other than the licence holder is entitled to more than 15 per cent or more of the gross revenue from sales under the licence the copy of the agreement must be filed with AGCO within 30 days after entering the agreement. Di Lullo says he believes Feds make up more than half of sales, which is far greater than 15 per cent. When called, operators at the AGCO indicated that there is nothing on UW’s file to indicate that the Feds UW agreement on the liquor licence has been filed. We must consider why the university holds the liquor licence and what situation would be best for students. |