A development application for an Aldergrove cannabis retailer got its final approval from Langley Township council Monday, but only after council voted against it first.

The rezoning is one of the necessary phases of approving the first retail cannabis shops in the Township, more than two years after federal legalization was passed.

On Monday, the council at first defeated the application on a tie vote. Councillor David Davis was absent, leaving the council with a four-to-four split among the remaining members.

On the first vote, councillors Petrina Arnason, Steve Ferguson, Bob Long, and Eric Woodward voted against the rezoning.

“Well, we’d better vote again,” Long said after the vote.

Coun. Blair Whitmarsh called for a reconsideration of the motion immediately.

This time, the motion passed five to three, with Arnason, Ferguson, and Woodward still in opposition.

The cannabis shop is to be located at 3227 264 St., not far from the Langley Banquet Hall and the Arby’s restaurant.

Originally, the council approved a plan last year that called for up to eight shops in the Township, with one in each major neighbourhood – Walnut Grove, Fort Langley, Aldergrove, Murrayville, Brookswood, Willowbrook, Willoughby, and one more in the Carvolth area near the 200th Street highway interchange.

READ MORE: One third of applications for Township cannabis stores focus on Aldergrove

READ MORE: Council rejects Fort Langley cannabis shop a second time

In the end, applications were skewed heavily towards a few neighbourhoods especially Aldergrove, while others, such as Brookswood and Murrayville, received few to no applications.

This year, after reviewing the applications and applying various criteria, the councillors turned down almost all the applications, allowing just two to go forward, with one in Aldergrove and one in Carvolth.

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