Council made it crystal clear this week it has no appetite for cannabis retail applications that come with a side of variances.
A rezoning application for a pot store was denied by council Tuesday before it could proceed to public hearing — for the second time.
The applicant was seeking to rezone a portion of the property at Young and Chilliwack Central to the C9 cannabis retail zone from commercial-industrial zoning, along with a development variance permit application.
At the council meeting Coun. Chris Kloot had a message for future applicants hoping to open a cannabis store in Chilliwack.
“I think we made it clear when we had specific requirements for the C9 zone, and at this point I’m not comfortable to entertain any variances,” Kloot said.
The location’s proximity to playgrounds and a future supportive housing facility did not meet the 300-metre buffer zone requirement, so a development variance permit (DVP) application was submitted, to run concurrently with the rezoning, to reduce the minimum buffer distance within the proposed C9 Zone from 300m to 279m from The Education Centre, from 300m to 239m from Nowell Park, from 300m to 282m from Greenacres Square, and from 300m to 145m from a supportive housing facility.
“I would strongly suggest to potential applicants to work within the parameters that we have created here at the city to accommodate that C9 zoning,” Kloot said.
Coun. Jason Lum went even further than that, asking if staff could explore what it would take to have a moratorium placed on rezoning applications for C9 cannabis retail, and for licensed producers (LPs) of cannabis as well.
“I don’t know why we moved ahead on any of these,” Lum said of the applications processed by city staff to date.
There are several still in the queue, but one has been approved so far for an Industrial Way location in the SureStay Hotel by Best Western, and another in a Promontory plaza was denied.
READ MORE: First cannabis retail goes through rezoning
Coun. Lum said there’s “no incentive” for local governments to continue approving retail pot stores without provincial clarity on the tax split with local governments.
CAO Peter Monteith said he wasn’t sure if a moratorium would be possible at this point, given that they already rezoned a property for the first cannabis retail store.
“We did have the option not to have the retail,” Monteith reminded council since local governments could choose not to allow any cannabis retail operations to open.
Coun. Kloot said he’d prefer to look at applications on a case-by-case basis rather than a moratorium.
Coun. Sue Knott said the biggest challenge with this application is that it didn’t meet the C9 guidelines.
“So early on in the game I don’t want to see any variances,” she said.
Coun. Bud Mercer asked about provincial pot stores, and was told they would have to go through the same rezoning process, and there was one in the queue.
Coun. Jeff Shields encouraged applicants to think “long and hard” before they submit a rezoning application.
Staff was not in support of the Young Road application, according to the report:
“As detailed within the Staff Report, Staff are not supportive of the proposed change in land use given the necessary variances to facilitate the proposal and recommend that Council deny the Bylaw and issuance of Development Variance Permit DVP01028 with respect to property located at Unit A-8810 Young Road.”
The proposed location was within close proximity to two playgrounds (Nowell Park and Greenacres Square) and one school (The Education Centre). The subject property is also about 145m away from a supportive housing facility (located at 45890 Trethewey Avenue), which will be built to respond to the urgent need for more safe and affordable housing in Chilliwack.
“As these sites are gathering spaces for children and youth, including vulnerable peoples. Staff consider this an inappropriate location for a cannabis retail store.”
READ MORE: Promontory cannabis retail application quashed
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