Stop Variance of Coquitlam Bylaws

To all our loyal customers, THANK YOU for your support over the last 5 years. We have truly enjoyed being a part of your community.

Sadly, I have to inform you that we are facing closure due to our property landlord, Bentall Kennedy, planning to lease a retail unit to a private liquor store, Westwood Liquor Store Inc. Bentall Kennedy has informed us our lease will not be renewed unless we support this new tenant. We do not support this.

To save our store, the jobs of 6 people, and more importantly the negative impact a private liquor store will have on the Westwood Plateau community, we need the City of Coquitlam to disagree to Westwood Liquor Store Inc.’s request to amend existing bylaws that are currently preventing them from moving into the Westwood Plateau shopping centre today.

The first bylaw that needs to remain the same is the minimum 300metres of distance from schools. As you know, our shopping centre is visited daily by hundreds, if not thousands, of school age children from multiple schools in the area. The second bylaw that needs to remain the same is the minimum distance of 300m from another store that is licensed to sell alcohol. This bylaw is in place to protect communities by reducing the impact of alcohol-related events (think: drinking and driving) that ultimately jeopardize the safety our children and loved ones.

We need your support to keep the existing bylaws and tell the City of Coquitlam and Bentall Kennedy on June 1 that the Westwood Plateau community wants to keep its small VQA wine store and does not want, nor need a larger private liquor store.

A public hearing is scheduled for June 1st at 7PM, 2015 at Coquitlam City Hall. To support our efforts in trying to keep our store from being closed, we ask you to dedicate your voice and speak at this public hearing on our behalf:

1. Contact the City Clerk’s Office at 604.927.3010 and register as a speaker at the hearing, or

2. Express your concerns in writing by May 30, 2015 toclerks@coquitlam.ca