The Mountain View County policies and priorities committee has briefly reviewed proposed bylaw amendments regarding cannabis production in the municipality.
The move came during the committee's recent meeting in council chambers.
"Proactive amendments to the land use bylaw to regulate the use of the cannabis commercial production and processing facility will mean the county is ready for those commercial production facilities that may be looking into requirements before the legalization on July 1, 2018," administration said in a briefing note to council.
Council had instructed administration to prepare proposed changes to the land use bylaw to regulate commercial production and sale of cannabis.
Administration has suggested the following proposed definition for cannabis production facility:
"A federal and/or provincial licensed facility, comprised of one or more buildings or structures used for the purpose of cultivation, processing, packaging, testing, destroying, storing or shipping of licensed cannabis products. A cannabis production facility consists of some, or all, of the following components: greenhouses, warehouses, laboratories, processing facilities, administrative offices, and shipping facilities but does not include onsite retail sales of cannabis products or any derivatives thereof. All activities associated with the growing, processing or shipping functions shall be located inside fully enclosed buildings. On properties zoned agricultural district or agricultural (2) district the minimum parcel size shall be 40.0 acres or greater."
Another proposed section for specific use regulations reads, in part, as follows:
ï The approving authority shall not approve an application for a cannabis production facility without the appropriate federal and/or provincial licensing and authorizations.
ï The approving authority shall require the applicant for a facility to undertake community consultation within a 1.6 km (1 mile) radius and provide details of this consultation as part of the development permit application. Further, the county shall circulate the development permit proposal to parcels within a 1.6 km (1 mile) radius prior to consideration by the approving authority.
ï An application for a cannabis production facility development permit shall include the following: all required federal and/or provincial approvals; a detailed description of the facility, including the proposed building/structures, types of production/cultivation, distribution and shipping methods, employee numbers, parking, etc. that will take place at the site; a detailed site sketch showing all existing buildings and proposed facilities, including setback distances from the property lines; hours of operation; security measures; existing or proposed servicing arrangements (water and sewer and stormwater management), which may include water conservation methods; the anticipated facility traffic generation to the property including employee traffic.
Councillor Peggy Johnson said she would like to see production facilities limited to industrial parks.
Councillor Dwayne Fulton asked that administration bring back information about how U.S. jurisdictions have handled legalization issues.
Councillor Al Kemmere said there are many unanswered questions regarding federal and provincial plans around legalization.
Reeve Bruce Beattie said area farmers should have options to exploit legal crop opportunities on their respective properties.
With councillors Angela Aalbers and Greg Harris not present at the Nov. 1 committee meeting, councillor Al Kemmere put forward a motion that the matter be deferred until a future committee meeting. That motion passed unanimously.
