Pubdate: Sat, 18 Jan 2014
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Bill Cleverley

DRUG-ACCESSORY STORE FEARS BUSINESS WILL GO UP IN SMOKE

Esquimalt Shop Facing Higher Licence Fees, New Rules On
Location

Erich Weiss doesn't know which way to turn.

The 25-year-old sole proprietor of Higher Levels Novelties, on
Esquimalt Road in Esquimalt, recently received his business licence
notice from the township. The annual licence fee for his
drug-paraphernalia store increased to $2,000 from $100. And they want
him to move within six months.

"I really wish I had $15,000 or $20,000 to fight it. ... Basically [the
notice says] to pay $2,000 by the end of January and then I'm allowed
to stay until July and then they're kicking me out," said Weiss, who
opened the store, his first business venture, last March.

Under Esquimalt's new business licence bylaw, certain types of
business - including those that sell liquor for off-site consumption,
money lenders and drug-paraphernalia sales - are charged $2,000
instead of the $100 licence fee most businesses pay.

The bylaw also prohibits the sale of drug paraphernalia within 500
metres of a school, prohibits the display of drug paraphernalia by a
business and prohibits the sale of drug paraphernalia to anyone under
19. The highest penalty for violation of the bylaw is $10,000, the
maximum allowed under the Community Charter.

Higher Levels Novelties is within 500 metres of several schools so,
even if he pays the $2,000 business licence fee, Weiss must relocate
within six months.

Weiss has been calling real estate agents to try to find a new store
location "but everything's so damn expensive."

He's also considering papering over windows to try to meet the intent
of some of the bylaw's conditions.

He has looked at relocating in Victoria, but the real estate prices
are higher, and he would have to compete with the seven stores like
his already in operation there.

Esquimalt's new business licence bylaw came in the wake of a
well-publicized battle the municipality waged with the owner of the
Bong Warehouse and the store's bong-shaped mascot, which some felt was
offensive. Citing an unfriendly business climate, the Bong Warehouse
recently closed shop.

Weiss, who said he has never had a township official visit his store,
believes he's being swept up by a broom that was being aimed at the
Bong Warehouse.

Higher Level Novelties sells a variety of instruments used for smoking
marijuana such as pipes and bongs, but doesn't sell crack pipes, Weiss
said.

Crack pipes are available free of charge at the Esquimalt Health Unit
as part of the Vancouver Island Health Authority's harm reduction program.

Both Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins and Coun. Tim Morrison, the
councillor who championed the bylaw changes, stand by the changes.

"I would suggest his best step forward would be to approach council
and express his problems and to see what we can do to work with him in
terms of resolving his situation," Morrison said.

Both Desjardins and Morrison said Weiss had ample opportunity to
express his concerns before the bylaw was passed.

"He has an opportunity to move within Esquimalt and comply to the
bylaw or he could certainly come forward to staff and/or council and
plead his case.

There may be the opportunity for an extension of that time frame that
he might require to move within the township," Desjardins said.

"But unless he comes forward in some way to staff and/or council, the
bylaw is what he needs to comply to."  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D