Ken Sim's ABC Vancouver vows to cut business licence wait times to only three weeks

Ken Sim's ABC Vancouver party promises to cut business licence wait times to only three weeks

Exterior of the existing Fountainhead Pub. (Google Maps)

If elected with a majority in Vancouver City Council, the ABC Vancouver party will work to drastically cut business licence wait times to an “absolute maximum” of only three weeks — down from as high as 8.2 months in recent years.

The party of mayoral candidate Ken Sim says they will explore the best practices to reduce existing licence wait times.

A recent study by independent business advocacy group LOCO BC found that the average economic loss per business permit or licence in Vancouver is $722,000, with each week of wait time resulting in an average loss of $31,000 per week per business, which includes opportunity cost losses.

Restaurant businesses suffered $950,000 in total on average — $662,000 to the business, and $288,000 to the economy — while service businesses experienced a hit of $111,000 on average, with $78,000 to the business and $33,000 to the economy. This also accounts for lost employment opportunities.

You might also like:

This financial impact puts businesses in a deep financial hole before they can even operate to try to climb out of the hole, and it is particularly detrimental to small businesses run by families, which typically have a smaller capacity than larger businesses to shoulder the upfront losses.

“Small businesses are the backbone of Vancouver’s economy. We want to ensure that Vancouver is a place where businesses can thrive and create good-paying jobs,” said Lenny Zhou, a City Council candidate for ABC.

“The City of Vancouver’s business licence wait times are among the worst in the region, that’s completely unacceptable. Nobody should have to wait over half a year just to be able to open their business. A strong local economy benefits everyone. Businesses, workers, and residents alike will benefit from this policy shift.”

In recent years, a task force comprised of City staff and City Council has been working to improve building permitting and business licensing. But despite additional City staff in the permitting/licensing departments and some reformed procedures, including the use of online/digital platforms, builders and businesses are still saying the City of Vancouver’s application and review process is highly inefficient and complicated, with extensive wait times.

The OneCity party’s recently released platform also promised to provide businesses with some permitting relief, specifically a simplified permit application process with pre-approved conditions for common types of businesses, and supporting City staff in a review of permitting processes to “find efficiencies, reduce barriers, and prioritize climate and equity goals.”

TEAM For A Livable Vancouver, the party of mayoral candidate and current city councillor Colleen Hardwick, has also pitched giving priority to streamlining permit processing for long-term, job-creating endeavours, and “looking at Vancouver’s procurement process to better support local businesses.”

Earlier this year, before the civic election campaign cycle, City Council approved Forward Together incumbent mayor Kennedy Stewart’s direction asking City staff to explore giving the municipal government self-imposed guaranteed timelines to approve building permits, similar to the City of Surrey. As well, City Council supported Stewart’s amendment asking City staff to explore an Empty Stores Tax, which would mirror the Empty Homes Tax to theoretically help address vacant storefronts.

ABC is running eight candidates for City Council, including the mayor and seven city councillors.

TEAM has seven candidates, including for mayor and six city councillors.

Forward Together is also running a total of seven candidates, including the incumbent mayor and six city councillor candidates, while OneCity has four city councillor candidates and no mayoral candidate.

You might also like: