Notice of Meeting:
I hereby give notice that an ordinary meeting of the
District Licensing Committee will be held on:
Date: Friday
27 January 2023
Time: 10.00
am
Venue: Plaza
Conference Room, Civic Centre, the Octagon, Dunedin
Sandy Graham
District Licensing Committee
Extension of Temporary Authority – Tokyo Garden
PUBLIC AGENDA
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Chairperson
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Colin Weatherall
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Deputy Chairperson
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Members
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Rakei Amohau
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Katie Lane
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Senior Officer Kevin
Mechen, Secretary, District Licensing Committee
Governance Support Officer Lauren
Riddle
Lauren Riddle
Governance Support Officer
Telephone: 03 477 4000
Lauren.Riddle@dcc.govt.nz
www.dunedin.govt.nz
Note: Reports
and recommendations contained in this agenda are not to be considered as
Council policy until adopted.
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District Licensing Committee
27 January 2023
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Part
A Reports
Report for Continuation of Temporary
Authority, 343 George Street, Dunedin – From Secretary, District
Licensing Committee
Department: Civic
APPLICATION DESCRIPTION
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Applicant’s
Name:
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Tokyo
Garden Food Limited
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Site
Address
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343
George Street, Dunedin
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Trading
Name:
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Tokyo
Garden
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Style
of Licence
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Restaurant
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Application
Number
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TA-01-2023
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Date
received by Council
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05/12/2022
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1 This
is a report for the extension of a Temporary Authority of the premises situated
at 343 George Street, Dunedin, and known as “Tokyo Garden”.
2 The
original application was opposed by the Licensing Inspector and Police but,
because of the time of year, the Committee decided to issue the temporary
authority until 27 January 2023 at which time a hearing for the substantive
licence application would be heard, assuming the applicant had submitted it on
time.
3 An
application was received but, due to a technical issue only resolved on 18
January, the detail in the main application was unreadable and supporting
documents were not attached.
4 This
hearing is to rehear the original temporary authority application and to
consider the information in the reports of the Police and Licensing Inspector.
APPLICANT AND APPLICATION
Applicant
5 The
applicant company has two directors, Leonard CHENG and Chengyu ZHANG (also
known as Chris ZHANG) with the latter being the sole shareholder. There
was a change in the company structure with a former director and sole
shareholder, Ms Yingjie GAO, ws replaced by Mr ZHANG. The change in
company structure was not notified to the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing
Authority as required by section 69 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012.
6 The
Committee asked for a temporary authority application to be submitted as soon
as possible after the breach was identified in November 2022. This was
subsequently received, and both the Police and Licensing Inspector opposed the
grant of the authority. It was decided to issue the authority with the
applicant being advised to apply for the substantive licence as soon as possible
so a hearing could be convened on 27 January 2023.
7 An
application was received by Council prior to the Christmas/New Year closure
period however, it was not ‘readable’ by the computer system being
used, despite the form being used was editable .pdf documented accessed on the
Council website. The application was returned advising it was incomplete
and that supporting documentation was required.
8 A
‘work-around’ has now enabled the missing form data to be read but
the supporting data has still not been received.
9
The hearing for the full licence cannot be convened however, because the
temporary authority will need to be extended, a short-notice hearing to rehear
the original application has been called for the same date, 27 January 2023, so
the original opposition by the Police and Licensing Inspector can be considered
before an extension of the temporary authority is determined. The ability
for the Committee to rehear this matter, at short notice, is found at sections
136(3) and 201(4) of the Act.
objections
10 Temporary
authority applications are not required to be publicly advertised but they are
circulated to the Police and Licensing Inspector.
Objections
11 Police:
The Police opposition relates the suitability of Mr ZHANG. On 29 July
2022 Mr ZHANG, 26 years of age, was convicted for unlawfully carrying an
imitation firearm during an incident in a licensed premises in Dunedin’s
George Street in the early hours of 4 June 2022. He was intoxicated at
the time of the incident. Another charge of presenting that imitation
firearm was withdrawn by Police.
12 Mr
ZHANG is essentially the operator of Tokyo Garden, but this incident raises
questions as to his suitability to be operating a licensed premises.
13 Licensing
Inspector: The Licensing Inspector identified the change in company structure
while at the premises for a Food Licence check. The second director, Mr
CHENG, has been involved with licensed restaurants for a number of years but in
this instance, did not notify the Authority of the change in directorship and
shareholding.
14 Tokyo
Garden has continued to sell alcohol since the change in February 2022 when
they should have notified the Authority and, because of the shareholding
change, should have applied for a new licence.
15 The
Licensing Inspector raises questions as to the suitability of the applicant
company to have an alcohol licence.
CONCLUSION
16 This
original hearing for the substantive on-licence application is not able to take
place. The application was not able to be read at the time it was
received and was not accompanied by the required supporting documents.
While the application can now be ‘read’, the other documents are
not available so public notification cannot take place nor the application
circulated to the reporting agencies.
17 The
temporary authority was issued for a very short period to allow the substantive
application to be received, circulated and reported on so it could be
determined at this hearing.
18 To
continue with the current temporary authority the Committee has decided to
rehear the matter to hear the positions of the Police and Licensing Inspector
and then decide whether to extend it’s expiry date.
Signatories
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Author:
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Kevin Mechen - Secretary, District Licensing Committee
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Authoriser:
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Attachments
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Title
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Page
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⇩a
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Temporary Authority
Application
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8
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⇩b
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Licensing Inspector
evidence
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15
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⇩c
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Licensing Inspector TA
Report
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17
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⇩d
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Police TA Report
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19
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⇩e
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Cover Pages
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22
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⇩f
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Temp Authority and
Decision
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25
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⇩g
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Miscellaneous documents
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27
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⇩h
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On-licence application
- incomplete
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32
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