By Justine Kelsie

City not ready to roll out all cannabis bylaws

May 23, 2018 | 5:50 AM

After a five-and-a-half hour meeting on Tuesday night, Grande Prairie City Council will continue to ponder what the bylaws surrounding cannabis will look like for at least another month.

Councillors sifted through amendments including Land Use and Business License Bylaws as well as bylaws for where people won’t be able to use cannabis and rules around home-grown plants.

The six Councillors in attendance and Mayor Bill Given were pelted with concerns and recommendations from store owners, residents, and the Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce. From there, they began weeding through each proposed change.

Council decided that getting rid of an overlay map entirely in the Land Use Bylaw would help pinpoint where businesses could set up shop. Council also voted to get rid of the buffer zone between liquor stores and cannabis retail stores.

Although there were plans for business applicants to start the process on May 23, the Land Use Bylaw didn’t pass third reading which means it will appear for more conversation at the next meeting on June 18. If it passes then, applicants could start on June 19.

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“It will push the application window forward by about a month. Ultimately, the federal government hasn’t actually established the federal rules around legalizing recreational cannabis. Our delay is not the one ultimately impacting if cannabis retail takes place in Grande Prairie,” said Given.

Amendments to the Business License Bylaw were also picked apart. Councillors chose to drop the fee from $5000 down to $2500. They also put a cap on the number of licenses given in the first year to max out at ten. An applicant could hold two licenses during that period. The third reading for that bylaw would need to be passed for changes to go into effect and it will be brought to a future council meeting.

Growing marijuana at home was also looked at. Enforcement Service Manager Chris Manuel suggested that people would be able to grow four plants in a greenhouse or indoors as long as someone had proper permits. All details will be brought to a subsequent council meeting as issues of repercussions of having unpermitted plants was not locked down.

Council hopes to create new norms with rules around locations people cannot smoke. On top of commercial movie theatres, council decided to give a 30-metre buffer zone for no smoking cannabis around playgrounds and recreation areas as opposed to the 10 metres recommended by administration. The council passed the amendments to the Smoke-Free Playgrounds and Athletics Bylaw.

“To ensure that the community had an opportunity to see the totality of the decisions that were made tonight and provide one more opportunity review those. To see if those fit with Grande Prairie’s sensibilities. There will be an opportunity for Councillors to make amendments before the third and final readings at the next council meeting,” said Given.