Olds council has been asked to change a bylaw stating how close cannabis retail operations can be to parks, municipal reserves and other locations.
During debate in council recently, it was suggested that the separation distance could be different for parks as opposed to municipal reserves.
Council will hold a public hearing Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. hear support or opposition to those proposed changes.
One is to reduce the minimum distance that such stores can be from 150 metres to 100.
Another is to eliminate a requirement for cannabis retail stores to maintain a minimum distance from municipal reserve land.
The recently-passed bylaw says the minimum distance must be at least 150 metres (m). Two business owners have applied to have the land use bylaw amended.
One of the locations that is affected is located at 4529 49th Ave. This commercial property has five bays, one which is being sought out by several cannabis retail companies.
However, under the current bylaw, it wouldn’t be possible to have a cannabis retail store at that location because it's only 99 metres away from Craig's Corner Kiwanis park and playground.
“Council added a separation distance of 150m for parks,” said Bhuipinder Singh in a letter to council.
“Because of this, it has directly affected the desirability of retail space in locations all over Olds.”
Another business affected is Tedd’s Food Mart at 5002 46th St. Its owners are proposing to renovate and lease out space to a potential cannabis retail business if a permit to do so is approved.
The building is 139 metres away from a municipal reserve which could eventually turn into a park.
Coun. Mary Anne Overwater questioned the decision to have these two issues grouped into one.
She indicated they are essentially separate issues, with the only connection being a request for a reduction of minimum separation distances.
“There’s two things we’re talking about here in this document,” said Overwater. “To me it all should be two separate items that we’re discussing.”
Coun. Heather Ryan agreed.
“The reason I opposed the first one was because of this exact scenario Councillor Overwater brought up," she said.
“In my way of thinking I don’t have a problem with municipal reserves going to zero but we need to have these two things separate.”
