by Hub staff
In response to questions raised regarding the new by-lawrespecting the Retail Business Holidays Act, we happily publish the minutes of the Economic Development & Tourism Advisory Committee that met at City Hall at 808 2nd Avenue East in the Council Chamberson June 21, 2019 - 8:30 A.M.
An excerpt of those minutes follows:
Staff Report CS-19-081 from Director of Community Services Re: Retail Business Holidays Act - Follow Up to Public Meeting and Draft By-law
The Director of Community Services presented the report outlining the feedback received from the public meeting held on April 12, 2019 and the online survey. Two individuals attended the public meeting and both spoke in favour of a blanket amendment approach. The online survey received 92 responses. The following observations are made of the data:
85% of respondents are from Owen Sound;
The 35-44 year age range followed by 25-34 made up over 50% of the respondents;
Women made up 77% of the respondents;
98% of people reported completing the survey on behalf of themselves or their household with only 1% from a business;
11% of the respondents reported operating a commercial business in Owen Sound with 63% classifying their business as retail;
Only 1% owned a commercial property and 1% ran a business in Owen Sound – of these 2 respondents, one was located downtown and one on the west side;
74% reported (67 responses) that they would stay open on a statutory holiday if a by-law was approved (this is a curious result as only 2 respondents owned businesses);
The holidays with most support for staying open in order were:
- Victoria Day
- Family Day
- Canada Day
- Labour Day
- Good Friday
- Easter Sunday
- Thanksgiving
- New Year’s Day
- Christmas Day
There was a 50/50 split whether it should be a blanket by-law or application-based process – earlier direction was to pursue a blanket amendment; and
62% of respondents reported that they would consider shopping on a Statutory Holiday if given the opportunity.At the end of the survey, there was an opportunity to provide general feedback and these 52 responses largely reflect the comments of individuals who work in the retail sector who would be impacted by the change.
The Director of Community Services recommended that as a trial, the by-law could include the holidays that had the most support in the online survey in order to mitigate the impact to those individuals who work in the retail and service industry who may be impacted by the change. These four holidays are Victoria Day, Family Day, Canada Day and Labour Day. Staff and Committee could then monitor feedback and shopping patterns for those four statutory holidays. At any time, the City could amend the by-law to add additional days or remove days should the City wish.
Councillor Thomas asked why staff have not exempted religious statutory holidays from the draft by-law since they do not reflect the current society anymore and wondered if Committee should consider exempting all of the statutory holidays at this time. The Director of Community Services advised that when drafting the by-law, she did not consider whether the statutory holiday was a religious holiday or a non-religious holiday. She only took into consideration the survey results and the top four statutory holidays identified by survey respondents. The Director of Community Services advised that Committee could add any additional statutory holidays to the draft by-law under Section 3.1.
Mr. Comello inquired if the process to add statutory holidays to the by-law in future would be easy. The Director of Community Services noted that the addition of statutory holidays to the by-law would be a simple process.
Chair Dodd noted that the largest influx of tourists to the City would be during the four statutory holidays that are currently included in the draft by-law.
Moved by Councillor Hamley ED-190621-002
"THAT in consideration of Staff Report CS-19-081 from the Director of Community Services with respect to the Retail Business Holidays Act, the Economic Development & Tourism Advisory Committee recommend that Council:
Receives the report; and
Approves a by-law under the authority of the Retail Business Holidays Act to exempt local business from the Act on the following days: Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day and Family Day."
source: https://owensound.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/121662?preview=127725
