Review process starts for cannabis store sites

The City of Calgary has started reviewing 261 development permit applications for cannabis stores, and officials say prospective retailers can expect to hear a decision by Aug. 10.

As they launched the review Monday, city officials said applications will need to comply with city land-use rules, such as separation distances from schools.

Staff will also be monitoring the concentration of cannabis stores in neighbourhoods.

“We’ll be looking at … population and the number of stores in each community here in Calgary to avoid that over-concentration of cannabis stores in one area,” said senior special projects officer Brandy MacInnis.

Factors to be looked in the review also include whether the location meets the separation distance requirements of provincial regulations, comments from citizens and compatibility with the community where the business would be located.

Provincial regulations require cannabis retailers to be 100 metres from schools and provincial health-care facilities.

Under city regulations, a 150-metre separation distance is required from the property line of schools and emergency shelters; 300 metres is required between cannabis stores, although the development authority has some leeway to make decisions on individual cases; and a 30-metre separation is mandated from a daycare, a place of worship, a pawnshop or a payday loan business.

Once an application for a cannabis store has been approved, there will be a three-week appeal period, the city said. If there are no appeals, the applicant can then seek building permits and business licensing.

The 261 active applications currently with the city are expected to be reviewed by Aug. 10.

Darren Bondar, CEO of Inner Spirit Holdings, said this will give companies about 60 days to build stores before recreational cannabis becomes legal in Canada on Oct. 17.

“But Oct. 17 is the start date, not the finish date,” he noted. “It should be an interesting couple of months.”

Bondar’s company applied for cannabis stores in 22 locations across the city. He said he doesn’t expect that all of those will necessarily get approved.

“I think that we’ll have some degree of success,” he said.

Angus Taylor, CAO of NewLeaf Cannabis, said the 21-day waiting

We have quite a few stores to build in Calgary, so every day that we’re not building makes it more challenging for us.

period for appeals adds an extra challenge in terms of timing. His company has submitted 18 applications for development permits in Calgary.

“It’s tight but it still should be enough time,” Taylor said. “We have quite a few stores to build in Calgary, so every day that we’re not building makes it more challenging for us to get all of our stores completed on time.”

While city officials expect to continue receiving new applications beyond the 261 currently being reviewed, Taylor noted that the city is getting “quite full” of proposed retail locations.

“The number of open locations that don’t have a cannabis store in them at this point, I would say, are few, and certainly not very many excellent locations are available any longer,” he said.