The City of Hamilton is looking to amend a municipal bylaw to reinstate missing enforcement rules tied to the consumption and possession of alcohol in city parks that was lifted in 2005.
A report is recommending the move after staff said it was “unclear” why municipal law enforcement officers had their authority to issue liquor-related charges paused four years after approval of the city’s parks bylaw in 2001.
The acting director of Hamilton’s environmental services, Cynthia Graham, said recent “housekeeping” of those bylaws discovered the missing provisions giving power to the officers to engage individuals in possession of, consuming, serving or selling alcohol.
“This was a provision that was in the bylaw previously, and we wished it to be put back so that it could be enforced as we have in the past,” said Graham.
Absence of the enforcement stipulation means the city will now have to refund $3,939.50 in fines collected under Section 13 of the Parks Bylaw between 2005 and 2021 since licensing and by-law services staff didn’t really have the power to issue offences.
Compensation for 73 related offences will have to come out of the city’s current operating budget.
Forty-four letters offering refunds will be mailed to citizens who paid their fines.
The missing section did not affect Hamilton Police’s (HPS) power on the matter over the years as the service has authority to issue liquor-related charges under the province’s Liquor Licence and Control Act, 2019.
The attempt to reinstate the missing points comes as by-law services have seen a spike in overall complaints tied to city parks year over year, with 1,780 cases in 2021 compared to the 145 cases dealt with in 2020 and the 850 in 2019.
Seventy-two tickets of the tickets issued in 2021 were targeted at individuals with alcohol in a park. A total of $5,400.00 in offences were issued but just over $2,700 of those penalties have yet to be paid.
The staff report suggests omission of the authority for officers risks vandalism, physical altercations, dangerous and reckless behaviour.
Possession and consumption of alcohol in city parks is allowed for special events when an organizer assumes full responsibility via a permit issued from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
Councillors will now have to vote to put back the enforcement rules, which could be done as soon as the city council meeting on May 25.
During a discussion on the issue at a public works committee meeting Monday, some councillors suggested staff may want to entertain a more detailed discussion on alcohol in municipal parks in light of a similar rejected motion in Toronto recently.
Lower Stoney Creek councillor Maria Pearson submitted the vote on the enforcement amendment might be “putting a cart before the horse.”
“Truthfully, I think it’s a matter of a direction that should come from council whether or not we even want to entertain alcohol in our parks,” said Pearson.
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