Heather Deal is a guardian angel for the Vancouver arts community.

In August 2010, the city councilor stepped in to protect Little Mountain Gallery, the independent artist and performance space just off Main St, from an arbitrary noise complaint that could have seen the venue’s doors close for good.

The case of Little Mountain follows an all-too-familiar pattern for venue space in the city. Both established and start-up cultural spots face an impossible network of noise, zoning and liquor licensing, violation of which can force the space to shut down.

For groups like the Safe Amplification Site Society (SASS), which is aiming to launch an all-ages space in Vancouver, the bylaws seem like an insurmountable obstacle. “Running a legal, all-ages venue is basically impossible at this point,” said Marita Michaelis-Webb, a member of the organization’s board of directors.

“There’s a weird web of bylaws that are really outdated and make very little sense and don’t really work together. The more you learn about them, the more you realize it’s hard to navigate them.”

Now, according to Michaelis-Webb, these laws are shifting in favour of cultural establishments—and Councillor Deal is part of the driving force behind these changes.

In 2008, Deal presented a motion to review the regulatory structures for venue space in the city. Hindered by a municipal election that year and thelead-up to the Olympics, the Regulatory Review for Live Performance Venues, as the motion came to be known, has finally started to bear fruit.

The review was presented to city council on February 3, 2011 and takes serious initiative to, as the preamble states, “better support cultural spaces.”

Deal explained where these changes will be seen. “Over the next couple of months, you’ll see the temporary changes … By summer at the latest, we will have cracked open a huge new inventory of potential performance spaces.

“The more thorough review of the liquor policy piece won’t be until the fall at least. That will require a certain number of requests to the province because they are our Big Brother when it comes to a lot of the liquor bylaws.”

The Regulatory Review includes a provision that allows venues to temporarily work with the city to bring themselves up to code, without worries of being shut down for bylaw violations.

Moving into next year, the review will be looking at “changes to permanent places,” said Deal. “This is about the building. What do you allow in residential zones? In office zones? In industrial areas?”

After the Live Performance Venue Regulatory Review, Deal and her staff will tackle artist galleries and studio space. Though it is an exhaustive undertaking, the changes to these regulations will benefit both the arts community and the city. According to Deal, “[The city] does not make money off the existing bylaws. They cost us in paperwork and staff time. There are actually very few concerns with this.“

Michaelis-Webb called the review a “boost of energy.” Like many others trying to sustain Vancouver’s cultural heritage, she and SASS are looking forward to a collaborative relationship with inspectors and city council. “Sometimes it can be really upsetting and depressing and bring you down because you put so much work into it and it seems bigger and bigger and harder and harder.

“But then something will counteract it and we’ll see that we’re getting closer and closer to our goal.”

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