Olds council has changed the rules on how far away cannabis retail stores have to be from schools, public health-care facilities, libraries and parks.
It's now 100 metres, instead of the previous 150 metres.
Council made that decision Dec. 10.
A public meeting on that matter was set for that date, but no members of the public came to council chambers to support or oppose the proposed shorter distance so that hearing was scrapped.
However, councillors did give their thoughts on the proposal.
Coun. Heather Ryan opposed the shorter distance.
“I’m speaking against the idea of moving to 100 metres, especially if we’re doing that across the board," she said.
“When we chatted about this the first time and put the 150 metres in we discussed it being a compromise because the survey that we had done with citizens, most of the citizens were listing it at 200 metres for the distance between these retail stores and most of these particular facilities, so the 150 was a compromise.
“I think since we’ve gone through this already and made the compromise for 150 that we should stick with it,” she added.
On the other side of the discussion was Coun. Debbie Bennett who feels that the change will reduce restrictions for business owners.
“I prefer the 100 metres across the board. It’s a legal product and there have been no media reports of any town suffering any backlash from having a cannabis store yet.
“I’m in agreement that 100 metres across the board is acceptable and if you’re doing 150 it’s restrictive to retailers.
“It’s a legal product; I think that we have to respect business owners and the 100 metres doesn’t mean that children can go into the stores either,” Bennett said.
Last month, Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) froze approval of applications for retail cannabis stores and will not issue any more retail licences until further notice, due to high demand and low supply of the product.
In an interview with the Albertan, Mayor Michael Muzychka said that the town has received no indication from AGLC as to when the retail licence suspension will end so Olds can have cannabis retail stores.
Recreational consumption of cannabis (also known as marijuana) became legal Oct. 17 this year.
