REGINA - The issue of whether alcohol is to be consumed in outdoor public parks in Regina has been tabled to the Aug. 16 council meeting, which is the next regular meeting of council.
Council voted to table the issue following what has been a lengthy council meeting on several topics Wednesday. The tabling motion means the alcohol in parks issue will not move forward until after Aug. 16 at the earliest, not at the end of the month as was in the original recommendation.
Mayor Sandra Masters made the tabling motion prior to the dinner break. She explained after the meeting that they were going to run out of time to deal with the issue that night.
She explained council usually dealt with the public bylaws first on the agenda, and noted the bylaw on the parking minimums issue took up a large period of time.
"It's almost impossible to predict. Sometimes those go by in seconds, and sometimes, as in today, it goes by in the course of three hours."
The parking minimums discussion ended up dominating the meeting. It went on from shortly after 1 p.m. until past 4:40 p.m., and the bylaw ultimately ended up being defeated on second reading, resulting in no changes.
The tabling of the alcohol in parks discussion was not greeted kindly by those in the audience who had stayed. City Clerk Jim Nicol heard an earful from disappointed delegations that were in the gallery when he went over to explain to them what had transpired. Those individuals complained about the inconvenience of having taken time to show up at City Hall only for their issue to be tabled.
Over 30 delegations had registered to make presentations on the alcohol in parks issue. In any event, the delegations will be able to have their say again on August 16.
When the day began, the expectation had been that council would make a final decision on whether to allow alcohol to be consumed in 12 outdoor public parks in the city. Earlier this year, the province had passed legislation to bring in changes in the Alcohol and Gaming Regulation Act, leaving it to municipalities to decide whether to allow liquor in their outdoor public parks.
Last week, Executive Committee had voted 6-4 in favor of a recommendation to allow it in outdoor parks as of July 30, but whether that same yes vote would hold up again at a full council meeting was hard to predict.
Some concerns were raised by councillors about some locations of the 12 parks slated to allow alcohol. In response, administration came back with revisions to the list of parks, following consultation with councillors last week.
Instead of Regent Park, where some concerns were expressed by residents, administration switched the location to Alport Park in the Uplands area. The other change saw Lakewood Park replaced by Rochdale Park, addressing concerns about an elementary nearby the Lakewood Park location.
The other recommendations in administration's latest report had remained the same, calling for alcohol to be allowed at Central Park, Horizon Station Park, Les Sherman Park, Rotary Park, Grassick Park, Kiwanis Park, QE Jubilee Park, Stewart Russell Park, Hopson Park and Tutor Park.
Public interest in the issue has gone up in days since the Executive Committee meeting. Just prior to the start of Wednesday’s council meeting, a number of opponents to alcohol in parks stood outside the entrance to City Hall and were displaying placards. Several of the delegations scheduled to speak on the issue stayed throughout the day until the tabling motion was made to move the discussion to Aug. 16.
While the tabling motion did go through, there were about three councillors who voted against it.
In addition to the alcohol-in-parks issue, the Saskatchewan Drive Corridor Plan as well as the Regina Transit update have also been tabled to a future meeting.
