City council passes motion to reduce corner store hours in residential areas
Posted Sep 30, 2022 08:16:00 PM.
Halifax city council has passed a motion to reduce the hours of convenience stores in residential commercial areas on the peninsula.
The new bylaw proposes restricting hours for convenience stores under the criteria from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The proposal, councillor Waye Mason says, will only affect about 20 stores in all of Halifax, and only five will need to modify their hours of operation.
The vast majority of corner stores in Halifax operate in commercial zones, and the proposal will have no impact on their hours.
The motion states the change was due to “complaints from neighbours, local councillors, and Halifax Regional Police have been noted concerning late night hours of operation for food service and the resulting noise, trespass, and littering. Large numbers of consumers patronize some of these neighbourhood stores with operating hours extending past 3 a.m.”
Councillor Mason told CityNews that the bylaw was needed because all of the land use bylaws in all other communities in Halifax don’t allow hot food service in residential corner stores.
On the RC1 time of day bylaw for convenience stores – this applies to 20 or so stores in all of Halifax and Dartmouth, all in residential zones, and only 5 will need to change their hours. It does not apply to corner stores in commercial zones, which is most of them! 1/6
— Waye Mason