The District of West Vancouver is pondering rule changes that would allow breweries, distilleries and wineries to set up shop in some commercial areas, and a wide majority of North Shore residents are thirsty for the change.
The North Shore News polled 1,105 readers and asked the question: Should West Vancouver allow breweries and distilleries?
The poll ran from Feb. 28 to March 9, 2022. Of the 1,105 votes, we can determine that 410 are from within the community. The full results are as follows:
Most municipalities require light industrial zoning for products like beer and spirits to be manufactured. Changes to the zoning bylaw are subject to a public hearing, scheduled for March 29.
Introducing craft tipples was one of the ideas presented in Imagine Ambleside, a vision produced by the Ambleside and Dundarave Business Improvement Association, intended to gin up some enthusiasm for change in the area as the municipality prepares to embark on a local area plan.
Although West Van is about the only Lower Mainland municipality still missing out on the decade-old craft beer revolution, it was actually home to the first micro-brewery in Canada. Horseshoe Bay Brewing opened in 1982 in a garage across the lane from the Troller Pub. It closed in 2000, but the founders went on to start other breweries that still exist today.
Results are based on an online study of adult North Shore News readers that are located in North Vancouver and West Vancouver. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 2.94%, 19 times out of 20.
The North Shore News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.
