Lake Country green-lights 1st pot store
Council reverses rejection of application for store in strip mall, but final say still rests with provincial government
Lake Country has become the first Central Okanagan municipality to approve a cannabis store. Council on Tuesday reversed an earlier decision to deny the application for a pot shop in the Turtle Bay strip mall.
The original opposition was based mainly on the store being within the 150-metre buffer that the town set between pot shops and daycares.
“I think council gave it some thought and decided the rejection was a bit harsh,” Lake Country Mayor James Baker said Wednesday. “The applicant and their many supporters made the case that having a cannabis store in the mall certainly doesn’t really present a danger to children at the daycare, so a variance was granted,” Baker said.
Pot shop applicants Celine Fitzgerald and Gavin Meehan addressed council on the matter, which they had not done when the variance was first discussed in early December, as did several of their supporters. The daycare owners also supported the pot shop plans.
The only person to speak against the variance was another would-be pot shop operator, who said he had worked hard to find a site that complies with the town regulations and didn’t think his competitor should be allowed to circumvent the municipal regulations.
It’s not known when the Turtle Bay pot shop will open, as the proposal still needs approval from the provincial government. The town will send the province a letter supporting the application.
Assuming provincial approval is forthcoming relatively quickly, Lake Country will become the first town in the Valley with a legal cannabis store.
“I guess whether you think that’s a good thing or not depends on your view of marijuana,” Baker said.