Wood-fired pizzas were given a slice of the food business at Powell River Sea Fair this past weekend, and can be served up again at Powell River Blackberry Festival mid-August.
During a special City of Powell River council meeting, Wednesday, July 23, Dan Ouellette, director of fire and emergency services, said use of a wood-fired pizza oven has become an issue because it does not comply with current bylaws.
“We’ve noticed it being set up in various locations in the community, which prompted me to give them a phone call and notify them it was not in compliance,” Ouellette said. He also let the pizza business operators know there was a possibility, if they were to take the matter to city council, councillors may be able to help them attend summer festivals in the community. Ouellette said this conversation with the pizza business owners was why council had received correspondence from the proponents and why the matter was being reviewed at the council meeting.
“I am actually prepared to have council entertain the idea of allowing it,” Ouellette said. “We would essentially be not enforcing that component of the bylaw for them. I would be supportive of that.
“The only thing that it would come with is conditions, and they are very basic, such as not using the unit under trees.”
Ouellette said there had been a fire ban imposed by the ministry of forests, lands and natural resource operations. At the time of the council meeting, it had been temporarily lifted. However, such a ban is a condition by which the operators would have to abide.
“In terms of allowing them, I don’t think it’s a threat to public safety,” Ouellette said. “I think we can put some controls and conditions on it. There will be business licences, inspection of the unit, that sort of thing. I think it’s all doable if council is in agreement.”
Acting Mayor Debbie Dee said she suspected the operators wanted to set up for Powell River Sea Fair during the weekend following the special council meeting.
Marie Claxton, acting chief administrative officer, said from a legislative point of view, city council cannot waive the bylaw itself that currently prohibits use of the pizza oven. Council can choose to not enforce part of a bylaw, or the bylaw in totality, but that would not be for one specific business.
“You can, by resolution, choose not to enforce something, but if there were other similar devices, it would affect everyone,” Claxton said.
Councillor Russell Brewer asked if council could make a motion specific to Sea Fair. Claxton said councillors could choose not to enforce the bylaw for this device during Sea Fair and then authorize the fire chief to put in appropriate controls and conditions to regulate the oven’s use.
Ouellette said he would ultimately like the wood-fired pizza oven to be legal under the city’s bylaw.
Brewer also asked about the ramifications of the campfire ban in the city. Ouellette said because Powell River is an organized community, with an organized fire department with bylaws, the city can ignore the ban because it has its own internal controls. In the past, the city has aligned campfire bans in the Willingdon Beach campsite with the provincial bans for consistency.
He said he had already had conversations with the owners of the pizza oven and provided his thoughts to them about the ministry’s campfire bans and the city’s enforcement of bans if the province puts them in effect.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said council should provide directions to city staff to make changes to the bylaw to allow this type of activity.
Claxton said if council directed staff to prepare an amendment to the fire prevention bylaw to permit this type of advice, it would take two council meetings. She said in terms of the fire department not enforcing the bylaw if the city so chose, council might like to provide allowance for use of the oven at Sea Fair and the Blackberry Festival.
Ouellette said if council could provide a short-term solution for, what were, pending festivals so that a long-term plan could be developed, he would appreciate it.
Council voted unanimously to waive enforcement of the city bylaw for wood-fired pizza ovens during the two summer events.
The wood-burning oven in question is owned and operated by Linda McDowell and Rob Ramage from Lund. They use the mobile wood-fired oven to sell pizzas at local festivals and fairs.
