Rejected pot shop receives new hope

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The fate of the store now lies in the hands of the province which still must give its approval.

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Council decided to reconsider the application proposed for 2813A- 35 Street at their last meeting on May 27 after receiving new information from the applicant.

One-hundred-and fifty-two signatures and 40 letters in support of the application were delivered to the city, according to the staff report.

One of the letters was from Joy Gladstone, the owner of K9 Care and Grooming, which is located in the same building as the proposed shop.

“I believe the security measures that the store will have in place will not only ensure the safety of the proposed store but also the business in the area. Twenty-four-hour recorded surveillance will provide more eyes on the streets,” Gladstone wrote in her letter.

An additional 20 letters thanking the mayor and council for the reconsideration of the application were also included.

Before coming to a vote, some councillors suggested applicants should put forward the most thorough presentation they can before approaching council.

“When these presentations come to council we have no knowledge as to who they are, what they are, what research they have done. I’m impressed by this and this is what we should have got in the first place quite frankly,” Coun. Scott Anderson said.

Coun. Kari Gares agreed.

“The biggest concern that I have always had right from the very beginning when we get these applications is not so much that we don’t know who they are, but they come with such little information for us to go off of. Now that we have this package, it is clear that there is a lot more detailed information in here that would have been very useful for us.”

At the previous meeting, Gares voted against the application after expressing concerns about the shop being mixed with residential units.

The applicant’s lawyer, Harpeet Nahal of Lake City Law Corporation, supplied the city with a letter from the province which confirmed there is no prohibition against cannabis stores in mixed use residential and commercial complexes.

The lawyer also provided three examples of cannabis stores in the province that reside in residential and commercial mixed zoning, including two in Vancouver and one in Kamloops.

“Because now we have this data, and it isn’t really an issue on that end, and plus the actual tenants that are currently in the building, the business tenants don’t have an issue with the cannabis store either, I am in support of this application,” she said.

This is the fifth cannabis application approved by council in the business improvement area.

Council voted to cap pot shop applications to six in the downtown area at its April 23 meeting.