One local entrepreneur is asking City of Powell River to be more proactive when it comes to helping people establish businesses.
Restauranteur Marika Varro said she had hoped to open her latest food-related enterprise in January, but was finally granted a business licence on April 11. Varro has opened three restaurants in the past in Powell River and on Texada Island.
“Delays during startup are to be expected; the requirements asked of me and my premise seemed excessive and the collective delays have caused considerable stress, thousands [of dollars] in extra expenses and staff turnover due to the prolonged wait,” Varro wrote in a letter to city council.
City of Powell River mayor Dave Formosa, also an owner of several small businesses, including a restaurant, said he understands Varro’s concerns.
“I understand her frustration and I understand small business frustration,” said Formosa. “For many years in Powell River we did not have the same constraints as some of the bigger centres, but those days are going away.”
According to Varro, the city could do more to help small businesspeople before they find themselves stalled by permit and building code issues.
“It would be helpful for someone from the city to sit down and brief business people on the requirements and help them navigate the challenges they might face,” she said.
Formosa said city hall would not have the resources required to sit down with each business person who wanted to open in Powell River.
“I’m not saying it’s not a good idea though,” he said. “The only problem I see is they might not like the advice.”
Formosa said things may have gone smoother if Varro had taken her project to a commercial-kitchen designer who could have coordinated the engineering and its certification, but he estimates those costs could be as high as $2,000.
City director of planning services Thomas Knight said the rules have changed over the years and become more onerous on people looking to open commercial kitchens.
“Owning a similar business several years ago doesn’t mean the rules stay the same,” he said.
Knight said he recognizes that dealing with the city has been difficult, but had Varro sought out more advice prior to opening, things may have gone smoother.
Varro said she had hoped to open Townsite food-catering business The Convenient Chef in January, but delays due to the design and sign-off of the kitchen’s ventilation and fire-suppression systems did not happen until mid-April.
She was also held up when the city required cross-connection control valves be installed for the kitchen’s commercial dishwasher and ice machine.
Varro estimates that in addition to opening months later than expected, she had more than $6,000 in expenses not budgeted. “It took all the fun out of opening a new business,” she said.
Formosa, who recently attended the BC Mayors’ Caucus meeting from May 1 to 3 in Fort St. John, added that a major area of concern for local governments around the province comes from the ever-changing BC Building Code and the amount of resources being put in to keep up.
“Some mayors said it’s changing so rapidly their planning departments can’t keep up,” he said. “This isn’t just a Powell River problem.”
Formosa said that while he does not have knowledge of the day-to-day decisions being made in the planning department, he does tell staff “to employ common sense and use discretion, where discretion is allowed with common sense.”
Varro said she is sharing her story so those who are looking to start a small business with a commercial kitchen are made aware of some of the potential unexpected pitfalls.
“It feels like there should be some room for reasonableness to some of the regulations,” said Varro. “Each situation is different.”
