Will recreational users of marijuana be able to walk into a shop in Delta and pick up their favourite brands?
That’s one of the myriad of issues the new Delta council is going tackle when it comes to now legal recreational cannabis.
Mayor George Harvie said the city has already taken a pre-emptive move by prohibiting retail cannabis dispensaries in all zones, well ahead of the federal government’s legalization of non-medical pot last month.
The new zoning regulation requires anyone wanting to set up a private store to make an application for a rezoning and appear before council. The rule would also apply to a government-run pot store, although, so far, there’s no indication the province is planning to set up a store in Delta.
What hasn’t been ruled out is the possibility of allowing a retail store to open in an industrial zone, but Harvie noted the city will be moving slowly and carefully before any decision is made.
“The first thing we will do is that we’ll be setting up a public safety committee in the new year. That will be one of the first subjects to ask them to comment on,” he explained.
A previous Delta civic report notes the city supports a public retail system where cannabis is sold through stand-alone government-operated stores and through an online ordering service.
However, Delta does not support the private sale of cannabis.
Cities have zoning control, giving them the ability to prohibit or restrict stores to certain areas.
The province recently issued the first private recreational cannabis retail licence to a Kimberly business called Tamarack Cannabis Boutique, while the first provincially operated BC Cannabis Store is open in Kamloops. Private and government-run stores are only allowed to obtain their inventory through the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch.
A retail medical cannabis operation is already operating on Annacis Island in Delta. However, people can’t simply walk into Zenabis West’s outlet to buy product because the company only sells its cannabis online and has it delivered. Located in an industrial zone, Zenabis West received approval from Delta for the cultivation and distribution of pharmaceutical-grade medical marijuana.
The previous Delta council’s policy had been to keep such cultivation and distribution operations in industrial zones. The city has been limited in what it can prevent in the Agricultural Land Reserve, which has allowed several greenhouses to grow marijuana.
