The District of West Vancouver is being sued by the former operator of the Larson Station restaurant and concession stand at Gleneagles Golf Course.
Sea View Restaurants Ltd., which is owned by Enzo Taffara and his wife Alice, was five years into a 10-year contract when the District of West Vancouver terminated the deal last November.
The district justified the move, saying the operator wasn’t living up to the terms of the contract by not opening the restaurant for breakfast as soon as the golf course opened at 6 a.m.
But according to Sea View’s lawyer John Whyte, the hours hardwired into the contract were “simply untenable” for any for-profit business. “The clubhouse and concession receive no, or virtually no, customers during the early morning hours, later afternoon hours, at any hour in inclement weather, or during winter,” the claim stated.
Over the years, the Taffaras and the district agreed to amend the operating hours to keep the business viable, the claim states, but the district has neglected or refused to pay Sea View the early buyout payment agreed to in the original contract. That would amount to about $350,000, Whyte said.
For damages, Sea View is seeking the full amount of the buyout payment or reimbursement for the $250,000 the company spent on improving the facility, as well as compensation for the district’s continued use of kitchen and dining equipment that the Taffars paid for, despite repeated requests and demands for the district to stop.
It’s up to the court to decide what general or punitive damages are merited, but Whyte said his calculation of the market value of the supplies, if the district were to rent them, would be $400,000.
“That number is a moving target because every day West Vancouver maintains possession of our client’s property and makes use of it to run its events, from where we sit, that number should increase,” he said.
The Taffaras have found work elsewhere, but the ordeal has been arduous for the two, who emigrated from South Africa.
“They have worked very hard to build a business to serve the people of this community and it has been extremely difficult for them to have their business taken from them by, of all possible actors, a government,” he said. “That’s just not what they had expected would occur to them in Canada but it has.”
The District of West Vancouver declined to comment on the suit but confirmed that a new contractor has been hired to run the clubhouse. Council called for expressions of interest from caterers in January and signed a contract with Peake of Catering in April. The company was selected for their experience in catering and ability to meet the service levels required by the contract. The hours in the new contract are “very similar” to the ones Sea View signed and “definitely better” than what was being offered by Sea View, according to John Wong, West Vancouver’s manager of facilities and assets.
