Gisborne leaders seek to reshape alcohol policy, support CBD growth

Gisborne district councillors decided to exclude the central business district from a policy that stops restaurants from opening within 150 metres of a sensitive site.

Gisborne’s alcohol rules are being reshaped, but there was one sticking point as councillors debated the issue this week.

The new alcohol policy, which must undergo a six-year review process, stops new Class 1 restaurants from opening within 150 metres of sensitive sites, such as churches, schools and marae.

Class 1 restaurants have a bar and operate as a tavern at least one night a week.

However, councillors decided to go back to the drawing board on whether this rule should also be applied to the central business district.

Councillor Larry Foster said he did not want to include the rule in the CBD or throughout the region.

“Bearing in mind that one of the options is to exclude this rule from the CBD, I want the exclusion to be throughout the whole region.”

Foster recommended the council go back to consultation on the issue.

Foster said the 150-metres rule was causing problems within The Alcohol Regulatory & Licensing Authority (ARLA).

The current policy states that “no new such establishment of any type - except for restaurants or cafes and special licences - could be granted a licence to open within 150m of sensitive sites existing at the time of the application”.

“When it is interpreted within the court of law or ARLA, they use this as a gospel,” Foster said.

“We’ve got a church being built right next door to [the bar] Smash Palace. How’s that going to work?”

Council director of sustainable futures Joanna Noble said the district licensing committee did have discretion on the policy.

However, if those decisions were appealed, the overarching national policy might take a strict interpretation of the policy.

If the council did not adopt an option now, they would stick with the current policy until the council completed the review and submission process, which could take another six months, she said.

Mayor Rehette Stoltz asked for the feeling around the room.

“This is something where we want to respect our sensitive sites, but also support our CBD.

“Maybe that area [the CBD] is encouraged not to have sensitive sites so that other activities can happen there”, she said.

Deputy Mayor Josh Wharehinga asked if they could exclude the policy of sensitive sites from affecting the CBD, while the council conducted a review of the wider region’s engagement with sensitive sites.

The council could sort the CBD kaupapa out first, and then work with the community to ask what a vibrant CBD looked like in Gisborne.

Wharehinga added that the vibrant CBDs of Auckland, Wellington and Palmerston North had urban living areas alongside business, hospitality and commercial activity.

Councillor Rawinia Parata said hospitality was the backbone of a vibrant city.

“It’s where people spend time. My ultimate hope and vision for Te Tairāwhiti is that vibrancy is all up and down our region, not just the CBD.”

Councillors voted to adopt the 150m policy for Class 1 restaurants but excluded the CDB from being affected.

Council staff were instructed to complete a further review of sensitive sites.

Councillors also voted against a proposal to force on-licences, restaurants, cafes and wineries to close at midnight, rather than 2am.

Instead, these sites could operate at their current hours due to community support during the consultation process, the report said.

The council will notify the public of when the new Local Alcohol Policy will take effect, which will be no later than July 27.