The City of Vancouver adopted a procedure similar to that in Burnaby on August 1, 1989. The Vancouver Liquor Licence Commission, however was scheduled to review the procedure on September 27, 1990. The City of Vancouver also requires a referendum for applications for Class ‘'H" licences (licencee retail store for non conforming hotels}. Vancouver's regulations indicate an area of 2000 feet radius for the referendum. DISCUSSION: The process of conducting a referendum is complicated, expensive, slow and has in the past been cpen for irregularities where the results of the referendum result in automatic approval by the responsible authorities. On the other hand councils that have decided to deny an application after a referendum has produced positive results, have beea involved in unhealthy local controversy and serious challanges. The decision to determine whether or not residences in a particular area support any application for licenced premises now belong to locai councils. In a small city like Port Coquitlam a process based on a Public Information Meeting should suffice in most cases. Council should, however, establish other options; in some situations the process of referendum maybe necessary to clarify public opinion,and the proposed Bylaw makes provision for that. Given the geography of the City of Port Coquitlam, it is recommended that a fixed radius for possible future referendums not be determined, but should Council decide on calling a referendum for a particular application, boundaries for the survey area should be determined at the time on the basis of the specific location. on hed Carlos Felip, Mz ., M.C.I.P. Registered \ irector of Planning CF/k11 ID&15-11