New councillor balks at Summerland weed fees
Licensing fees for retail cannabis stores in Summerland are one step closer to approval after council hashed out the pricing details Tuesday night.
Chief administrative officer Linda Tynan recommended a business licence fee of $400 alongside an application fee of $1,500. In addition, the province requires a $7,500 payment.
The discussion lasted well over half an hour with Coun. Doug Patan suggesting Summerland should wait to see how other municipalities are handling fees.
“Do we have to be the first out of the gate?” he asked. “Why are we in such a hurry? I really just don’t feel comfortable until we get the information from the valley and find out where we’re sitting.”
Patan added his fear is that with lower business licence fees than other municipalities, Summerland could be overrun with cannabis retail stores.
“It’s very poor practice if you say that we’ve made an allowable land use, we’ve passed that, and yet we’re going to make it so you can’t do anything,” Tynan replied.
She also reminded Patan that retail store applications will be submitted to council for approval before they are able to open, giving the district control over how many shops emerge.
“There’s probably 80 communities in the province, if not more, that have established what their fees are going to be. So just because some of them close to us haven’t doesn’t mean we’re racing out of the gate,” Tynan said after telling Patan that Kelowna isn’t a good comparison to Summerland.
“I just have some reservations about this,” Patan concluded. He was the only one. “I think it’s probably a good thing to get this moving,” said Coun. Erin Carlson.
“Perhaps we could be the first to have a legal cannabis store in the Okanagan, and I think that would actually be a good thing,” she said.
Council is expected to officially approve the fee scheme at its next meeting.