The Calvary Baptist Church is launching a second appeal of the decision to allow the Liquor Spot to locate in the building immediately adjacent to them, after they lost their initial appeal.
This second appeal will go to the Saskatchewan Municipal Board’s planning appeals committee, and as of Monday, no date has yet been set for the appeal to be heard.
In the case of the first appeal, pastor Tim MacKinnon of Calvary Baptist Church described it as a split decision.
“The outcome of the last one was 1/2 for both parties. The appeal board had decided against the City that they could not allow an exception for the Liquor Spot to use the back alley, but they would still allow the Liquor Spot to be in that location, as it is discretionary,” he said.
“We are appealing that second decision, based on our view that this would set an unsettling precedent for the future when it comes to liquor and cannabis stores being around schools, public places, etc.,” MacKinnon added.
John Hulbert Construction is also appealing the decision not to allow the use of the back alley, as they planned to use this to access the back for storage and warehousing of liquor products.
The church is still accepting letters of support at revtimmack@gmail.com, noted MacKinnon, adding, “We are not coming at this from a prohibitionist perspective, but as a community concern one. We strongly feel that, similar to the laws around cannabis stores, there should be proximity laws around liquor stores as well, and many jurisdictions in Saskatchewan and around the country have these in place.”
According to the Saskatchewan Municipal Board, once the appeal is filed with them, it will go through a case management process to review and streamline the issues in the notice of appeal, and if possible, they will try to mediate with the parties involved to resolve their issues.
If these steps are not successful, the board will formally acknowledge the appeal, and will set what type of hearing will be held, and will ask the parties to submit written submissions and hold either a video conference or an in-person hearing. A decision will then be rendered by the panel within 60 days after the hearing.
If the parties are not satisfied with the final decision, it can then be filed with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
