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Split Vote

Lacombe council says no to ‘responsible’ alcohol consumption in city parks

Jun 15, 2021 | 2:00 PM

Lacombe city council has brought down last call on an idea to allow ‘responsible’ consumption of alcohol in designated picnic areas at city parks over the next two years.

Council Monday night defeated a recommendation by a 4-3 vote to amend the Parks and Facilities Bylaw enabling such a change, along with further recommendations requesting regular police patrols at the proposed consumption locations and accompanying amendment to the operating budget.

Diane Piche, Director of Corporate Services, noted that letters of concern came in from members of the public following council’s meeting on May 25.

Councilor Cora Hoekstra pointed out that residents phoned her husband about their concerns regarding the proposal.

“When I ran for city council, I was desiring to increase the quality of life in Lacombe,” said Hoekstra. “And someone said to me, ‘So do you see this as an improvement for the city of Lacombe?’, and I suddenly could not answer positive. I was really quite engaged with the conversations around this proposed change and I cannot support it.”

Picnic areas designated for alcohol consumption included Len Thompson Fishing Pond, Les Walker Rotary Park, Lacombe Memorial Centre Park including Lest We Forget Park, the concession and batting cage picnic area at Michener Park, and Cranna Lake Picnic Area.

Designated times recommended for consumption were from the hours of 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The proposed pilot project was brought up following the Alberta government’s passing of Bill 2 in June 2020, which among other things, amended parts of the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act to ‘modernize’ some of Alberta’s liquor laws by removing “unnecessary restrictions” on liquor sales, allowing for responsible drinking in parks if municipalities so choose, and cut down on unnecessary red tape.

Councillor Thalia Hibbs admitted her mind was changed after reading a letter from the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre, which noted, “It would be of great concern to us if alcohol were to be allowed in the park, and we would hope that it would not be allowed at our event. We do not feel that we would be able to control or police alcohol consumption at our event and would not want to be responsible for any uncomfortable or unsafe situations which may arise.”

“I honestly was a little surprised and perhaps I shouldn’t have been and perhaps I should have reached out to them because we were all thinking with the assumption that they would be in favour of that,” remarked Hibbs. “I’m quite sure that quite a few patrons would be in favour of it, but as far as the actual organizing body that makes that happen and for a lot of people coming from out of town that come to it, that was a bit of an eye opener. So I do appreciate that they sent that in because that did actually turn my opinion on things.”

Mayor Grant Creasey was in favour of the pilot, saying the recommendations were well in line with provincial guidelines.

“I saw it as being a positive move for our city,” said Creasey. “Obviously there’s a difference of opinion.”

Also on Monday , council was advised of a Notice of Motion from councilor Reuben Konnik, “that council include a ballot for a vote on a question at the next municipal election, asking citizens if they would like to see Video Lottery Terminals return within our city boundaries, or that council rescind Bylaw 244.”

City officials say if three readings of the previous bylaw’s removal were to pass at council in the coming weeks – the restriction on VLTs in Lacombe would be removed and the notice of motion would not come back to council.