Monday, November 26, 2018

City Council to receive details from two reports on findings of Cannabis consultation session last week

The somewhat tentative road towards cannabis regulations for Prince Rupert will take a few more steps forward tonight, as City council members hear two reports culled from the community forum held at Coast Mountain College on November 13th.

November 13 -- City of Prince Rupert seeks community feedback on cannabis plans at consultation session tonight at Coast Mountain College

The twin reports for Council come from the City's Communication Manager Veronika Stewart and City Planner Zeno Krekic, with both passing along some of their observations from the public feedback that was provided as part of the information forum.

Ms. Stewarts report noted that from the audience participation on the evening a number of questions were raised in relation to the city's proposed policies to this point.

How the Business Licence fees of $5,000 for the first year and $2,500 for renewal fees were selected.

How/Why areas adjacent to downtown were included or omitted

Restrictions on deliver services/taxi delivery 

Restrictions on smoking lounges

The length of time it will take before regulations are in place

The number of stores that will be permitted, given the 75 metre distance restriction

The report notes that in respect to the delivery and smoking lounge inquiries, that they are within a provincial mandate at the moment. Should the nature of those initiatives change, future City Council's may elect to amend the local bylaws to allow for them in the future.

In her introduction to the report, Ms. Stewart observes that the proceedings were broadcast on City West Cable 10 and live streamed through www.princerupert.ca/live.

However, the night's community engagement does not appear to have yet been included as part of the city's YouTube archive for follow up viewing by community residents.

From his notes on the evening, the City Planner observed that there 29 guests along with 11 Council and City staff representatives in attendance on the night.

Mr Krekic's viewpoint from the city planning office focused on two inquiries on themes of zoning.

Exclusion from the area where cannabis retail stores can be located:

The manger of the Rupert Square noted that the partners are not in full agreement if their property should be included. Mr. Krekic has asked for a letter requesting exclusion if that is the wish of the mall ownership. Though he noted that the ownership of the mall can also have an internal policy in place if they wish not to lease space for a recreational cannabis retail store.

Inclusion in the area where cannabis stores can be located:

The property owner an a business interest proposing to locate a cannabis retail store at 1100 Park Avenue requested inclusion.  Mr. Krekic observes in his report that the request is a reasonable one, as the original area proposed included the Five Corners area of the edge of the downtown core.

You can get a head start on reading over their work from the City Council agenda package for tonight. The reports provide some of the background to the proposed bylaws, along with charts, maps and highlight keys for review.

Ms. Stewart's review can be found on page 9 , while Mr. Krekic's overview is available on page 61.

The process will move forward with the prospect of first reading of the proposed bylaw,  following tonight's council session, with a public hearing still to be held on the regulations before Council members will provide for their final guidelines.

A look back at some of the past civic moves towards the proposed bylaw can be reviewed below:

2018

October 11 -- No short cuts when it comes to City Council's Cannabis road map
October 9 -- Council to outline plans towards zoning for Cannabis retail opportunities in Prince Rupert
September 28 -- City Council's work on marijuana issues for Prince Rupert to resume in October

2017

December 13 -- City Council Timeline: Monday December 11, 2017
December 11 -- Council to host Public Hearing on Marijuana zoning prohibition tonight
November 17 -- Council to take pulse of Community on Pot zoning at Public hearing December 11th
November 14 -- Council to hear request to extend Marijuana operations prohibition Bylaw until July 2018
March 23 -- Council takes note of complaints related to Medicinal Grow Op smells
February 8 -- Public Hearing offers community feedback as Prince Rupert Council moves forward on marijuana plans
February 2 -- City's one year commercial marijuana prohibition plan is the focus for Public Hearing next week
January 11 -- Prince Rupert plans for Pot Shop Prohibition for one year
January 6 -- Prince Rupert Council to tackle issue of Commercial Marijuana dispensaries at Monday session

For  more items of note related to this evening's City Council session see our Preview page here.

A wider overview of City Council discussion topics can be found from Council Discussion archive page here.


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