Polson Pier Nightclub Plan Questioned

A Toronto, Ontario, nightclub complex with room for more than 15,000 people might be coming to the city’s waterfront despite opposition from the city council and resident groups.

Powerhouse Corp., owner of Polson Pier’s Rebel nightclub and the adjoining Cabana Pool Bar, has applied for a new liquor license that would increase the facility’s maximum capacity and remove several current restrictions involving noise and staging outdoor live events, according to Toronto television news station CP24. 

The application requests a capacity of 7,584 patrons inside the venue and for another 7,971 on outdoor patios. The current liquor license for the complex caps the indoor capacity at 3,163 patrons and the outdoor capacity at 2,510.

Not everyone involved is on board with the plan as requested.

“I find this proposal really conflicts the idea of balanced development on the waterfront,” Greater Waterfront Coalition’s Ron Jenkins told CP24. “There is already a sizeable nightclub there now and this proposed licensing arrangement would put 15,000 people there with half of them at an outdoor venue where sound travels throughout the neighborhood.”

Jenkins also said the proposal to double the capacity of the Polson Pier complex has concerned Toronto Islands’ residents and those in the nearby Distillery District.

The Powerhouse Corp. application for the new liquor license is scheduled to be heard by the province’s Licensing Appeals Tribunal Feb. 9, the station said.