The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has informed city officials it will no longer enforce a litany of conditions currently attached to liquor licences in Toronto.

This means that nightclubs, lounges and bars, which for years have had to manage litter, crowds and noise, among other things, to maintain their licences, are now unshackled from those responsibilities.

“Basically, the AGCO is taking eight years of work and walking away from it. They’re throwing neighbourhoods to the wolves,” said Councillor Adam Vaughan, whose ward includes the Entertainment District.

A more far-reaching consequence of the surprise policy switch is that the city will make it extremely difficult for new licences to get approved.

On April 1, council passed a motion requiring future applications to go through the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Safe Bars program, which is much more involved than the Smart Serve course. Applicants must also get a letter of support from the local MPP.

If these two conditions aren’t met, the city will declare the application “not in the public interest” and it will go to a hearing.

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Council has no choice, said Gord Perks, who represents Parkdale. Once a licence is finalized, it is attached to that business and can change hands easily. Someone could apply as a mom and pop snack shop, get the approval, then sell the business to someone who wants to open a dance club.

The city prevented this in the past by attaching conditions to the licence, like a requirement to sell food or provide every patron with a chair. The AGCO says it will not add those safeguards and will now ignore previously agreed upon rules.

“Because the province has walked away from its responsibility, everyone who wants a liquor licence in Toronto is going to have to go through the meat grinder,” Perks said.

“Even if you just want to sell a sandwich and a beer, you’re going to be treated the same as the guy opening a nightclub for 400 people.”

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The city learned about the enforcement policy change on March 14.

An AGCO spokesman said it will now be up to Toronto’s municipal inspectors to police issues not directly covered under the Liquor Licence Act.

“Issues of intoxication, service to minors, overcrowding, service after hours and violent/illegal activities,” will be the AGCO’s focus, Jeff Keay wrote in an email.

This might seem to make sense, but city councillors say there’s a big problem with this logic. Toronto inspectors can enforce city bylaws and zoning but the penalties are minuscule. Only the AGCO has “the teeth” to deal with problem owners, said Perks.

It can take years to get a violator in front of a provincial judge, he said. And even if they’re found guilty, they’re only given a fine.

“Just a cost of doing business,” Perks said.

Even if Toronto secured stiffer penalties, savvy owners can get around zoning bylaws. Entertainment establishments are only allowed in certain areas, but some operate with restaurant licences elsewhere, said Councillor Mike Layton.

“They can serve food, even if it’s a frozen dinner. They can have tables and chairs and in the evening push everything to the side and make room for a dance floor,” he said.

The question of what constitutes a nightclub has become the bane of Vera Frenkel’s life.

Frenkel, 75, an artist who gets around with a walker, lives in a two-storey converted storefront at Queen St. W. and Dovercourt St. When she purchased the place in 2002, her adjoining neighbour was the Slavic Pentecostal Parish.

In 2011, that church became Church Aperitivo Bar, a posh eatery-bar that opens at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and stays open until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. On the weekend, the place becomes standing room only in between tables.

“They initially claimed to be a family restaurant and that’s not what happened,” said Frenkel.

“My front step is used as an ashtray, a bedroom, a bathroom. . . . The noise coming through the walls and the floor is incredible. I now have to go to sleep at 3 a.m.,” said Frenkel.

“All I had to protect myself were those conditions. Now I can’t call anyone.”

An owner for Church Aperitivo declined to comment.