A cannabis production facility is seeking to set up shop at 11201 115 St. (Vanessa Broadbent / Osoyoos Times)

By Vanessa Broadbent

Osoyoos Times

It will take about a year and a half until any cannabis is growing in a property in Osoyoos, if it gets the necessary zoning amendment, according to one of the operators.

Terry Meyer Stone, partner of Anarcanna, a company that is hoping to operate a cannabis production facility at 11201 115th St., was the sole speaker at a public hearing regarding the facility on June 17.

Should council vote in favour of an amendment to a zoning bylaw allowing for cannabis production at the property, it will take a year to obtain government licensing, and then about six months of renovations, Meyer Stone told town council.

The facility will be a small operation she said, focussing on micro-processing and micro-cultivation, limiting the amount of cannabis that can be produced.

While concentrates, rather than dried cannabis, will probably be the focus, other options include soaps and pet foods, Meyer Stone said.

“We’ll depend on regulations that will be announced in October,” she said.

Although none were raised at the public hearing, Meyer Stone addressed potential concerns from the community: security, odour control, traffic and crime.

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“We are complying with very rigorous and very onerous regulations with Health Canada,” she said.

Health Canada’s prime concern for cannabis production facilities is security, Meyer Stone said. The property will need to have a chain link fence around its perimeter.

“It has incredible security – security cameras, security protocols – that we are required to do. They will vet all of those before we ever secure a licence.”

To prevent odour discharge, the facility will use charcoal filters and HVAC systems, Meyer Stone said.

Because the facility will only sell cannabis wholesale to the province, no retail traffic will occur.

“It will only be a few suppliers that will bring things that will have to come to the building, other than a small staff.”

Any rejected cannabis or plant clippings will be mixed with cat litter or wood shavings and composted, rendering them unusable, before being disposed of, Meyer Stone said.

The building currently includes living quarters and mayor Sue McKortoff asked if they will remain.

“There can’t be,” Meyer Stone said. “Health Canada would not allow that and neither would any of the town regulations allow that.”

Council will consider giving the zoning amendment third reading at a future meeting.