Residents won’t be able to crack open a beer while using any parks in Bonnyville.
After receiving feedback from the community policing committee, Town of Bonnyville council voted against changing their bylaws restricting alcohol consumption in municipal parks during their Aug. 27 meeting.
Assistant CAO Bill Rogers, who sits on the policing committee, said a key issue discussed was whether or not there should be designated areas where people could drink alcohol.
“Observations made by the committee when we discussed this matter included the fact there’s presently no suitable recreation infrastructure in town to support having a dedicated picnic or similar area where alcohol can be consumed along with food,” he continued, adding council could look at the topic again if the town has an appropriate area to support a change in the future.
The municipality first discussed the possibility after Alberta’s Minister of Municipal Affairs, Kaycee Madu, requested municipalities consider making changes earlier this year.
In May, Premier Jason Kenney announced the ban in provincial parks that still had a restriction on alcohol consumption would be lifted. The province also committed to removing unnecessary red tape for festival organizers hosting events in municipalities and provincial parks, along with relaxing liquor regulations in 14 provincial park day use picnic sites starting June 28.
After reviewing the list of locations, such as Jarvis Bay and Garner Lake Provincial Parks, Mayor Gene Sobolewski didn’t believe any parks in town were similar to the ones included
“A lot of the parks designated by the province were those that had picnic tables and campgrounds, where you’d be able to do your barbecues, and these things were set up already for that. Any one the province had listed weren’t anything say, for example, adjacent to Little Leap Park,” he detailed.
When it came to the possibility of changing how festivals hosted in the municipality are regulated for alcohol, Coun. Elisa Brosseau used a concert she attended in Moncton, N.B. as an example. According to Brosseau, the event didn’t restrict alcohol consumption to a specific area.
“People could buy their liquor and still be with their children amongst the crowd watching the concert. That’s where I could see us taking a look at this, and looking at it differently instead of having… a beer gardens where your kids have to be on the other side.”
Brosseau suggested a similar scenario for events the town puts on, such as Canada Day.
Coun. Chad Colbourne noted it’s possible to host events like Brosseau described, though the Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) requires more from hosting organizations in order to accept their application.
“You have to have a certain amount of servers on staff, and you have to have a certain number of security in order for that liquor license to be approved. So it’s possible, it’s just there’s a lot more you have to do to make it possible,” he explained.
