Castlegar City Council moved forward with rezoning lands near the airport to permit a marijuana production facility.
The rezoning application is also being referred to the Advisory Planning Commission for review and recommendations, as well as the Area J Planning Commission, and a public hearing is being scheduled.
But even if the City of Castlegar approves the zoning amendment, final approval of the medical marijuana production facility itself will be up to Health Canada.
“The city has been approached by a developer interested in developing a Health Canada approved marijuana facility on a portion of the surplus airport lands. The Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes [Regulations (ACMPR)] provides a legal means through which Canadians can obtain access to cannabis for medical purposes. Under the ACMPR, individuals who have support from their health practitioners can access cannabis by purchasing it from licensed producers or by producing a limited amount themselves or designating another individual to do so for them,” explained Phil Markin, development services director for the city.
He also explained that Health Canada requires developers to meet a number of requirements to have an application successfully approved.
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“You have to meet quite stringent security measures. They have to control access to the facilities, [have] visual monitoring of the facilities and the perimeter of the sites and have intruder detection systems. More information will be brought forward at the public hearing, but that’s basically the just of it,” said Markin.
As of May 25, 2017, Health Canada has received 1,665 applications, 428 of which are in progress, 265 of which have been refused, 69 of which have been withdrawn and 858 of which were incomplete and were returned.
The site is owned by the City of Castlegar and so Markin is listed as the applicant on the rezoning application, but the city would not own the facility.
Markin said he is not able to disclose the name of the developer at this time.
Two more electric
car chargers for Castlegar
Castlegar will be getting two more electric car chargers in early November as part of the Accelerate Kootenays program. One level three and one level two charger will be installed at the Visitor Information Center, according to Patricia Dehnel from the Community Energy Association (CEA), who gave a presentation to council regarding the CEA’s programs and initiatives.
Dehnel also invited the City of Castlegar to join the Partners for Climate Protection program.
“We would love it if Castlegar would consider becoming a partner for climate protection. You have already done so much in this community. It’s a free opportunity to celebrate your successes” she said.
The program has a five-milestone framework and Dehnel says with the work the City of Castlegar has already done it would come in at the fourth milestone.
Council stirred up over waste disposal
Coun. Florio Vassilakakis informed council that he and Coun. Dan Rye, the council representatives on the Transportation and Civic Works Committee, have asked staff to look into the cost of returning to weekly garbage pick up over the summer so that council can consider the issue during its budget deliberations.
“We have heard from the public that that’s the most difficult time of year for them to go two weeks,” he said.
But a member of the public sparked debate among councillors when he addressed the issue during the question period.
“It occurs to me that … now might be an opportune time to revisit the idea of the organics. I know it’s been a longer-term plan, but there’s a simple fact here — the smelly stuff is what people are concerned about and the smelly stuff is the organics. If you don’t have organics in your garbage, then the garbage doesn’t need to be picked up every week, but the organics, they do,” he said.
Chris Barlow, CAO for the City of Castlegar, explained that the city is currently with the Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) to find a solution.
“The RDCK is about to come out with their new solid waste program five-year plan. We talked about two years to be able to have a facility that would be able to receive organics. The city has expressed interest certainly in being part of that program and told them that we’re looking to be part of it as soon as possible,” said Barlow. “And I think at the community level that’s what we discussed, if we do an increase in frequency collection, it would be an interim measure.”
Coun. Bruno Tassone proposed that an alternative interim solution might be to send organics to the facility in Grand Forks and asked that staff look into the cost. At the end of the ensuing discussion, he made it clear that he thought sending organics to Grand Forks should be part of the budget discussion.
Coun. Deb McIntosh was afraid that returning to weekly garbage pickup would result in more people throwing out recyclable materials and was interested in finding an alternative of disposing of organics.
Coun. Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff also asked if there was someone else the city could partner with to dispose of organics.
Barlow explained that Grand Forks organics program is done through the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) and that the City of Castlegar has been in discussions with the RDKB.
“We’ve actually reached out to the RDKB too to see if there’s a way that we can piggyback on that process in the interim, but the cost of hauling the organics at this time would negate any savings,” he said. “It would be a cost to us at this point, but I know the RDKB is looking as well at, potentially, a facility in the Trail area, and through the steering committee, RDKB and RDCK are exploring the potential for a combined facility.”
Barlow also reminded everyone that the best way to deal with organics is still in residents’ backyards and that the city still offers rebates for backyard composters.
Heaton-Sherstobitoff requested that staff bring a report to council regarding all of the waste disposal options being explored. Mayor Lawrence Chernoff said that staff would need to wait for the RDCK five-year plan to come out first, but didn’t know exactly when it was due to be published. He did say that council would have it in time for budget discussions.
Vassilakakis also informed council that recycling collection will be rerouted in some areas, including Southridge, due to high volume. The change isn’t expected to take place until Dec. 4 and is expected to address delays in collection.
