New Westminster city council will get a chance to decide whether to agree with city staff and Fraser Health on a proposed hookah lounge.
The city’s land use and planning committee received a pre-application review related to a request from an applicant to have the city reconsider its regulations related to water-pipe smoking premises, which are better known as hookah lounges. The city’s smoking control bylaw prohibits smoking in places such as restaurants and retail businesses.
The applicants’ proposal states it wants to create an “upscale and classy” lounge that serves hookah, preferably on Columbia Street.
“When hearing hookah, you may associate it with tobacco. But that’s not the case. Due to known facts that nicotine and tobacco is a harmful product, the modern day Hookah is made from sugarcane molasses and different flavouring. The coal is now made from coconut. Hookah smoking goes back centuries and comes from Middle East,” wrote the applicants in a letter to the city. “Today, it’s all around the world and is served almost everywhere. All modern major cities have lounges and cafes that serve hookah; that includes cities like L.A., N.Y., Toronto, not to mention everywhere in Europe.”
According to a staff report, the applicants don’t have a specific location in mind for a hookah lounge, but sought direction on whether the city would consider changing existing regulations to allow this type of business and where it might be considered. The lounge, which would serve food, tea, alcoholic drinks and water-pipe smoking, would be open to people aged 19 or older and would operate seven days a week from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., with liquor service ceasing at midnight.
City staff recommended the city stand by its current smoking control bylaw so it remains consistent with the city’s requirements for other forms of smoking and with regulations in most other municipalities in the region. Instead of reconsidering its regulations, the report recommended the committee direct staff to work with the applicant to revise their business plan in case they want to pursue a modified business in New West – one that doesn’t allow water pipes.
“Without bylaw changes, there would continue to be opportunities to smoke with a water-pipe in private residences, subject to requirements from strata councils or landlords,” said the report. “This approach is consistent with the approach regarding cigarettes, cannabis, vaping and other forms of smoking.”
A staff survey found these sorts of lounges are allowed in Burnaby, but they’re prohibited in Coquitlam, Delta, Langley, Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond, Maple Ridge and the City of North Vancouver.
Dr. Aamir Bharmal, medical health officer for New Westminster and Burnaby, does not support the opening of a hookah lounge in New Westminster. In a letter to the committee, he said the health risks associated with a tobacco-free hookah lounge are similar to those in a tobacco-smoking hookah lounge. He said multiple studies have shown there is an increased risk for cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and enforcement to ensure businesses are providing a tobacco-free product and air quality is a challenge.
“Fraser Health’s medical health officer has indicated that they do not support the use, as it would likely pose health risks to patrons and staff and would be high risk for the transmission of pathogenic agents and respiratory diseases,” said the staff report. “Pathogenic transmission is of particular concern following the COVID pandemic. The proposed use would also pose challenges in regards to ensuring the premises does not use restricted products.”
According to staff, herbal content for water-pipe smoking is unregulated by the province, and Fraser Health doesn’t have the authority to search, seize or test for tobacco.
“This means that, if the city wanted to guarantee that establishments remain tobacco-free, the burden of testing would fall on city staff,” said the report. “Complex business licence conditions would likely need to be established in order to allow for the search, seizure and testing of tobacco.”
The city’s land use and planning committee, which is comprised of three members of council, considered the proposal at its Aug. 31 meeting.
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said it was a “non-starter” for him when he first heard about the proposal, but after attending a couple of the facilities in Burnaby to have a look and speaking to people who visit the lounges and the proponents, he’s had a change of heart. He said it’s a popular pastime among some people from the Middle East and Europe.
“I found the ventilation absolutely amazing. You walk in and there is no evidence of smoke. It is immediately lifted out of the room,” he said. “The appetizers were good. It was licensed, so you could have a beer or a glass of wine. I really noticed a lot of participation from new immigrants and new Canadians, and people that have a heritage from countries where that is permissible.”
From a health perspective, Puchmayr said he believes the legalization of marijuana probably would have more of an impact than a recreational hookah bar.
Coun. Chinu Das said a hookah lounge is something council could consider as a business use in New Westminster in the future – but not now.
“Certainly there is a demonstrated need for having a variety of establishments. I don’t see this as harmful. However, my main concern during this time is the health-related considerations, and for that reason I will actually be supporting this recommendation from staff,” she said. “I do think we can revisit this after COVID is done and then have a very thorough conversation with the greater council. But, for now, I think I’m going to support what the staff is recommending.”
Mayor Jonathan Cote suggested the proposal raises an “interesting policy question” that should be considered by city council.
“I myself have mixed opinions on this,” he said. “Number 1, from a health perspective, we have made such gains in reducing smoking and not having smoking in restaurants and those types of situations. I am not sure how I quite connect allowing this. But I think there is a different cultural element that is involved with this use that might make this an entirely different consideration that might need different criteria.”
The land use and planning committee referred the issue to council for its consideration.
In August, some Burnaby residents voiced concerns about the safety of hookah lounges after a number of incidents at or near lounges in that city. In 2018, the City of Burnaby cancelled the business license for a hookah lounge that had been the subject of dozens of in 119 complaints or calls for service to the Burnaby RCMP between April 2018 and the fall of that year.
