Photo: Nicholas Johansen Arcade owner, Lee Schurian, holds a copy of his business licence.

There's one less place to get down in Kelowna.

A series of bylaw fines has forced the owner of Arcade, a Kelowna music venue, to close its doors, after building a unique culture during three years of operation.

The space is operated as Hemp City during the day, but hosts DJs at night every other weekend.

On Oct. 15, owner Lee Schurian was issued four bylaw fines, two for operating without a business licence and two for noise complaints. The fines totalled $2,000 and stemmed from the nights of Sept. 26 and Oct. 3.

The fines have pushed Schurian to close the doors.

“The last ones I got were on a weekend I didn’t even have a show,” Schurian said. “And they all say 23:00. I open at 23:00, so there’s no way there’s a noise complaint at 23:00.”

RCMP Cpl. Joe Duncan said police received eight complaints about Arcade in 2014 and six in 2015, which could have been for reasons ranging from “noise, unwanted people, to sleeping in the doorway, to almost virtually anything.”

“I would say that’s extremely low,” Duncan said. “You’re looking at any of the bars downtown, I’m sure get way more calls than that a year.”

Meanwhile, Schurian says he has had a business licence for an "art and music club" for the last two years, and has never had an issue operating.

Dan Maja, senior bylaw officer with the city, said Schurian’s licence doesn’t match what he is doing at the space, and an "art and music club" designation doesn’t officially exist.

“Somehow, somebody at City Hall changed that for him, and I have to follow up with who that might have been to find out why they might have done that without any oversight,” Maja said. “To be honest, I don’t know how or why somebody came up with that designation because I don’t know what that would actually permit. It’s not a specific category that we have.”

Schurian says Arcade is run as a private members club, as he is licensed to do.

“I just throw shows for club members, you can be a guest at the door, too. You just have to sign a waiver and we get your information,” he said.

Maja said the business should be licensed as a cabaret, which is essentially a nightclub that doesn’t serve alcohol. He said an art and music club would be more like the Rotary Centre for the Arts.

But because it's not an official designation, he conceded this “could be up to interpretation.”

Maja said Schurian was told last year he had the wrong licence. Despite this, the license was renewed in 2015 with the same designation.

Fans of the Arcade, and the DJs who played there, are rocked by the closure. Schurian’s announcement on the Arcade Facebook page garnered 89 comments of support in a few days.

“It’s been heartbreaking for people,” Schurian said. “It’s like something just died, with condolences and stuff … part of the community died in the music scene here.”

“It was a place for a lot of these artists in the B.C. area to do something new and creative,” said Spike Floyd, a local DJ who has performed at Arcade.

“It creates a totally different atmosphere,” said Anderson Coutu, a regular attendee. “Everyone is happier and alert and watches out for each other. There wasn't a single fight that I ever saw or heard about, which certainly can't be said about any club on any given night.”

Matt Bibby, who worked at the venue, echoed the sentiment, saying he never had to deal with police while working there for a year and a half.

“What other establishments in town can make the same statement?” Bibby said.

Schurian said those who attend the events are respectful of the space, and the surrounding area.

“It’s such a helpful community,” he said. “At the end of the night, it’s not even messy here. People clean up everything. There’s barely even a clean, unless there’s glitter.”

Schurian said he has held more than 150 shows at Arcade, with DJs coming from as far away as Australia.

“If you look at the ratio of shows to complaints, it’s barely any,” he said.

Schurian would like to find a new space to put on shows.

“I’d really like to have a better space,” he said. “I want to do Arcade for sure, it’s all about the music. It’s never been a money-making venture.”