The Kirkland House Society has backed out of operating the controversial Harris Barn.
The Corporation of Delta assumed responsibility Jan. 1 for issuing rental contracts and managing the barn, which already has 72 functions booked for this year.
Opened last May, the historic Harris Barn had been relocated from a property on 64th Street, reassembled and refurbished at Hawthorne Grove Park. The Ladner property already has the restored Kirkland House maintained by the society, which entered an agreement with Delta to operate the barn as well.
The barn has 8,000 square feet of space over two floors. The addition of the barn to the Arthur Drive location provides a new venue for large special events that had previously been lacking in Delta, according to the municipality.
As soon as it opened, it was fully booked for weddings and other events for 2013 and didn't take long for all of 2014 to be booked.
Colin Campbell, president of the Kirkland House Society, told the Optimist his group would like to continue maintaining the house and grounds, including watching over the upkeep of the barn, but won't be involved in booking events.
He noted prior to the barn's relocation, his society was able to deal with the few wedding receptions that had been held on the grounds for the last few years, but the full-time commercial operation was stretching his group of volunteers too thin.
"When you're involved with rentals, you have to be there and it's a different routine. It's a routine the city is already set up for and they rent lots of other buildings, community centres, ice rinks and so on.
They have people there all the time because they're paid to be there, so they're better equipped for ongoing rentals," he said.
The use of the barn as a banquet hall has been controversial as a group of upset Arthur Drive residents claimed Delta broke its own rules by building a noisy "party barn" in their neighbourhood.
Tara Sudbury, whose backyard faces the barn, is dismayed with what's been taking place since the venue opened, noting residents were given the impression the barn would be used as a museum and, at most, a meeting room for local groups.
Doubting such commercial operation is permitted in the Agricultural Land Reserve, Sudbury filed an application for a judicial review. She's now reviewing Delta's lengthy response.
"The ALC (Agricultural Land Commission) isn't coming down decisively as to their opinion on this and there is no evidence they (Delta) had written permission to do what they've done. There is written evidence they were obliged to meet some minimum requirements and they have failed to do that," Sudbury said.
As far as 2014, she said the barn is fully booked for weddings and other parties, which means another year of noisy weekends.
A staff report endorsed by Delta council on Monday notes a new rental protocol will encompass more activities that are less of an impact to the neighbourhood, including instructional and community programming, as well as one-time community events such as exhibits, fairs and seasonal events and lectures.
The new protocol will limit the number of "high impact events" to the neighbourhood, but not eliminate the revenue generators entirely. First booking rights will be given to Delta nonprofit organizations for the first three months of the year.
Events involving amplified music will be reduced and that music must be off by 11 p.m. The barn has a capacity of well over 400 people but the maximum size of future events would be limited to 250, unless Delta grants exemptions.
However, since the barn is almost fully booked for this year, most of the new rules won't take effect until 2015 because Delta will respect the terms of bookings already made.
