Some simple text amendments will now permit cannabis production in industrial zones within the regional district.
Board directors recently approved a staff recommendation to update rules to allow marijuana production as a permitted type of manufacturing in the general industrial and heavy industrial zones.
Speaking to the bylaw, Development Services Manager Brad Dollevoet said the board was previously given options on how it would regulate the siting of federally licensed medical cannabis production facilities.
Included in the report was how other local governments were proposing to regulate these facilities. Some took the position that these enterprises are best suited in industrial zones, while others said they should be located in the Agricultural Land Reserve.
The regional board was provided with four options: continue to assess medical cannabis uses as agricultural and permit them in rural zones; direct such uses to specified zones and introduce general regulations to regulate them; introduce a new definition of “agriculture limited” that would prohibit the growing of medicinal crops and apply this use to small holdings zones; and prohibit the operation of medical cannabis facilities in the regional district.
The board subsequently resolved not to make any amendments to its zoning bylaws, leading to the interpretation that cannabis facilities would only be permitted in agricultural zones.
But Dollevoet said they have recently received a number of inquiries about the construction of medical cannabis facilities in the region. While some proponents are interested in siting their facilities in rural zoned areas, others are specific to siting these facilities on industrial-zoned properties. These would require a rezoning application, Dollevoet said.
He noted all of these inquiries are similar in scale, indicating several hundred thousand square footage, with substantial land base needs for greenhouse structures and parking amenities.
“The significant economies of scale that are being seen in this relatively new industry are most likely due to the stringent approval process from Health Canada to receive a production license.”
Dollevoet said the scale of these facilities could not have been envisioned in 2014 when the board first considered their placement.
He also noted administration’s concern with these facilities (and their size) being placed on agricultural land and the impact they would have on farming communities (for example, increased traffic and the loss of arable land).
Therefore, Dollevoet said staff now considers that the best placement for these facilities would be on large parcels of industrial zoned land.
Area A director Mark Pendergraft could not be reached for comment.
LYONEL DOHERTY
Special to the Times
