As 7-Eleven prepares to serve alcohol at its Leamington location, the company’s application for Chatham is still moving through the approval process.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission approved the company’s application for Leamington in December. The store at 138 Erie St. was the first 7-Eleven location in Ontario to be allowed to sell beer, wine and spirits to dine-in customers. An opening date is still to be announced.
Another 60 locations – including 10 Grand Ave. W. in Chatham – were proposed in early 2021 to follow the same model.
According to the AGCO, the next step 7-Eleven must take for the Chatham location is securing three separate approval letters from the Municipality of Chatham-Kent’s fire, building and health departments.
These letters must state “that the premises meet the current municipal standards or bylaws administered,” said an email from the AGCO.
Paul Lacina, the municipality’s director of building development services, said the request for these letters usually goes through the municipal clerk’s office, which would be forwarded to him for the building approval.
So far, he hasn’t received a notice about this property, he said.
Once the approval comes in, Lacina said he would ask questions about the company’s plans for the location. Selling alcohol as a retail item would be fine under the current zoning, he said, but selling it to be consumed inside would require a zoning change application before he can give his approval.
“The turnaround time for a response from us is pretty quick, but the other departments rely first for my review of the zoning and what in fact this entails,” Lacina said.
“If I come back and say we need a zoning application to allow this use, then the application just sits there until that process is approved. It could be months for that process to be approved, depending on the dialogue and the information that goes back and forth from the owner applicant to the planning department.”
The AGCO confirmed this application is strictly for serving alcohol inside. Take-out and delivery would not be permitted.
Some Chatham residents objected to 7-Eleven’s proposal earlier in the approval process, according to the AGCO. The public notice period for the application was Feb. 12, 2021 to March 11, 2021 when eight Chatham residents raised a complaint.
This led to AGCO issuing a Notice of Proposal to 7-Eleven to review the application. All 61 applications in Ontario went through this step.
The company exerted its right to appeal the Notice of Proposal for Chatham at a License Appeal Tribunal conference on Jan. 10, 2022.
Tribunals Ontario, which oversees the License Appeal Tribunal, confirmed all eight Chatham residents who objected to the proposal were informed of the conference ahead of time.
However, no one attended the conference to object and the AGCO withdrew the Notice of Proposal, allowing 7-Eleven’s application to proceed.
A spokesperson for 7-Eleven offered a brief statement about the company’s ongoing plans to serve alcohol in Ontario.
“7-Eleven continues to advance its applications through the AGCO’s normal licensing process,” the spokesperson said in an email. “We’ll be sure to reach out when we have an update to share.”