Summerland council will discuss cannabis once again at its next meeting, with odours from grow operations on the agenda.
At the Feb. 10 council meeting, a notice of motion was introduced to deal with odours produced by the growing of cannabis.
The motion will come to the table on Feb. 24. If approved, it would see municipal staff researching and reporting to council with recommendations for the municipality to have an effective and enforceable regulation to deal with odours from cannabis grow operations.
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Coun. Doug Patan said odour control measures vary from one operation to the next. For example, a Lake Country grow operation is efficient in removing odours, while some other operations in the region are less effective in dealing with their odours.
Mayor Toni Boot, who is also a Summerland representative on the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen, said the regional district is also dealing with odour from grow operations.
Coun. Doug Holmes said wind direction will affect the odours from grow operations, and increased setbacks to keep grow operation buildings far from neighbouring properties are not always effective in controlling odour.
Coun. Richard Barkwill, who introduced the notice of motion, said the issue of odours from cannabis grow operations is a new one and raises questions for regulators.
“There’s no historic precedent for cannabis,” he said.
Holmes said he supports researching the topic before setting regulations for the community.
“We need to do the research before working on a bylaw,” he said.
Coun. Martin Van Aphen said there will be a period of trial and error as the municipality determines the bylaw.
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