Council rejects
pub application

THE NEIGHBORHOOD pub proposal for Edgemont
Village was rejected by North Vancouver District Council
Monday night, and the applicants are angry that the village
residents weren't polled for their opinion in the matter.

A municipally-conducted poll cf
local residents is usually the first
step following an application, but
early indications that portions of
the neighborhood were opposed to
the pub proposed by Torchy’s res-
taurant prompted social planner
Rupert Downing to write a report
looking at the potential impact of
a pub in the area.

After that report was presented
to council Monday evening, coun-
cil voted to reject the application
without proceeding to the polling
stage.

“I don't feel I got a fair shake,"’
said restaurant owner Sean Bjarn-
son on the morning following
council’s decision. ‘*‘What if this
had been a case of a silent majori-
ty?”

Downing had received several
phone calls and a 1!75-name peti-
tion of people against the pub, but
Bjarnson says he was never allow-
ed to present his side of the issue
to council.

He noted that he had written a
Ietter to council addressing some
of the residents’. stated concerns,
but said that he didn’t believe his
comments were taken into account
during the council meeting.

Ald. Craig Clark and Ald. Bill
Rodgers were the only two
members of council to vote in
favor of going to a municipal poll.

Although Clark said Tuesday
the result of the poll would have
been negative, he said ‘‘in order
for the system to work, you have
to have the benefit of going to the
community,’’ and. council
shouldn't have been swayed in its
decision by the opposition express-
ed to the pub. |;

' Bjarnson also said that council
contradicted itself by indicating
that it didn’t want a pub so close
to a residential area, and yet it
generally supports having
neighborhood pubs within walking
distance of homes in order to
discourage drinking and driving.

classic & unclassic

MEXICAN FOOD

By PEGGY TRENDELL WHITTAKER
, Chronicle Reporter

Bjarnson said last week that op-
ponents of the idea were *‘imagin-
ing the worst.’”

He said the pub would be
designed to appeal to local
tesidents only, and not bring extra
traffic or pub-goers from other
parts of the North Shore.

**] can’t emphasize strongly
enough...the pub is not going to
draw outside people, ’’ he said,
noting there are several other pubs
on the North Shore in more con-
venient locations than Edgemont
Village.

Prior to the council meeting,
Downing said that residents were
also concerned that children going
to’ and from school or the
Capilano Library, especially in the
evening, will be walking near the
pub. :

However, Kit Bjarnson, Tor-
chy’s kitchen manager, said that
although “that’s something we
have to be concerned with,”’ the
fully-licenced restaurant already
has a busy lunch ard dinner trade
which hasn’t proven to be a pro-
blem in the neighborhood.

The restaurant, located at 1050
West Queens Road, is owned by
Sean and Lisa Bjarnson, and staf-
fed by their brothers Kit and Lee,
the nighttime bar manager.

Sean Bjarnson noted last week
that, prior to the family’s applica-
tion, area residents had given them
a largely positive response to the
pub idea when he and his family
had gone knocking door-to-door
with their proposal.

“From our indications, it was
worth pursuing,’’ he said, noting
that since then, however, people
opposed to the idea have used
“scare tactics’? to try to change
other residents’ minds on the issue.

Social planner Rupert Downing
could not be reached for comment
before presstime.

3 - Wednesday, March 1, 1989 - Capilano Chronicle

TORCHY’S RESTAURANT co-owners Sean and Lisa Sjarnson ‘wanted to turn their restaurant into a
nelghborhood pub, but their proposal was rejected at Monday night’s North Vancouver District Council
meeting. While Sean Bjarnson seid Tuesday that he'll ‘‘live with the decision,”’ he said he was upset that council
bad rejected the application without conducting the usual muvicipal poll of area residents.

“a first class Mexican
Food Restaurant that
is warm & intimate,

lively 8 friendly,”

Timothy Renshaw
North Shore News