Curtain May Fall On Dry Theatre
Filed Under Curtain Rods | Posted on November 18, 2008
The taps have run dry at the Westside Concert Theatre, whose two owners say city zoning and municipal red tape may cost them their business.
Loren Lieberman and his partner, Colin Lapsley, bought 434 King St. W. in the fall of 2005 and turned it into an entertainment centre.
But a zoning issue has left them unable to secure alcohol permits, which is hitting their bottom line.
“In the month of October we lost 11 events,” he said. “Another month or two and we’ll be out of business.”
The building started as a movie theatre in the 1930s and was turned into a CHCH television production studio in 1960. It changed hands again in the 1990s and was bought by Lieberman and Lapsley from Big Bang Studios.
They invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to turn it into a popular scene for events from weddings to live theatre.
After applying for “dozens and dozens” of special occasion permits from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, they decided to cut the paperwork and seek a bar licence instead.
It was then, Lieberman says, he found out they could not obtain a licence because the building was not zoned as a theatre.
The site is zoned H district commercial, and according to Dio Ortiz, city manager of building engineering and zoning, the change in permitted uses that occurred with the purchase and conversion to a TV studio in 1960 means Westside cannot be used as a public hall.
Now Lieberman and Lapsley are left trying to change the allowed use and getting nowhere fast.
The earliest timeline for a rezoning is six months.
“You just can’t change the zoning overnight, it is a public process,” said Stephen Robichaud, manager of development planning.
Lieberman, who also organizes the Festival of Friends, said the delay has been devastating.
City officials say they were asked to assess the zoning last October and reported theatre use was not permitted. They call it a case of buyer beware.
Lieberman wonders why the city is enforcing its rules now. “Of course, everything falls back on my partner and I,” he said.
Tags: 1930s, alcohol and gaming, alcohol and gaming commission, alcohol and gaming commission of ontario, big bang, building engineering, city officials, development planning, gaming commission of ontario, lieberman, movie theatre, red tape, rezoning, robichaud, special occasion, taps, television production, tv studio, westsideRelated posts
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