When Marquis Wine Cellars owner John Clerides heard the city spent $1 million on the Occupy Vancouver protest, he immediately went to Twitter and posted: "1 million on Occupy Vancouver- 6 months and waiting for Dev Permit from the city and no end in site."
Clerides, whose wine shop is on Davie Street near Burrard, is frustrated.
"I saw this, that the city spent a million dollars on Occupy Vancouver. Fine, whether you agree with it or not, it is what it is," he said. "But you have people that want to contribute to the economy, want to contribute to the local business area, want to add value to the street, add a different shopping dimension. I have to do it to increase my business because the store is tired, the street is tired, and they're not willing to do a thing. It's very frustrating and it doesn't make sense."
Clerides wants to expand the 25-year-old family business into the building that he owns, currently housing a vitamin shop, next door. The renovation would include knocking down two walls and constructing a second floor.
But the city is "treating it like a 20-storey office building," he said.
"I've had to hire a [building] code reader consultant to go over it and read into it," he added. "Even my architect, he says he's never experienced this in 20 years. The city's basically at a standstill- nothing's happening."
Vicki Potter, the city's director of development services, said the city processes straightforward development permit applications first. More complex applications take more time, sometimes more than nine months, she said. Marquis's application is complex because the city considers it a liquor store and thereby needed to notify neighbours of a change of use for the vitamin shop. Adding a half story also makes meeting building codes trickier.
Clerides bristles at his wine shop being classified as a liquor store. He said no neighbours objected to its expansion. He says the city might want him to seismically upgrade, which would add half a million dollars to his tab. He doesn't want the city's requirements to force small business owners to sell their properties to developers who can afford to construct from scratch but also create neighbourhoods with a more generic feel. He doesn't want to close shop for a year to rebuild because it would put 10 employees out of work.
Clerides believes the city has lost too many experienced staff and that junior staff haven't mastered "the art of the deal."
Potter said the city expects early in the new year to allow permit applicants to submit, pay and communicate with the city online. The city also plans to assign one point of contact to all permit applicants starting in the first quarter of 2012 so applicants don't have to deal with different departments.
crossi@vancourier.com
