Bid to prevent ‘pot blocks’ sparks debate on city council
200-metre distance between shops may be unfair: councillors
Even as the first application makes its way through the system, an increasing number of concerns are being raised about the fairness of the Victoria’s 200metre minimum distance between cannabis dispensaries.
The 200-metre policy is seen as a way to ultimately prevent “pot blocks” or clusters of marijuana retailers in certain areas. The city’s 200-metre policy also specifies no cannabis retailers within 200 metres of a school.
But some councillors worry the policy is creating an uneven playing field as the first rezoning applicants who make it through the system are not only rewarded with a licence but also essentially eliminate competition within 200 metres at the same time.
“As each one of these comes forward, I’m having increasing degrees of concern about our first-past-the-post system in this case,” said Coun. Marianne Alto during a committee discussion of an application in the 900 block of Yates.
Coun. Geoff Young said he’s unable to defend the 200-metre policy and worries it could land the city in court.
“To some degree it was predictable that the 200-metre exclusion zone — so to speak — policy was going to create some issues,” Young said.
“I am not comfortable defending our issuance of a business licence to one operator and refusing it to another on the grounds simply that one operator’s application was simpler or more complete and moved through the process more quickly.”
The uncertainty comes even as council has agreed to send a proposed Trees marijuana dispensary at 546 Yates St. to public hearing. If approved, it will be the first such cannabis retailer to be zoned and licensed.
At the same time council first saw the Trees dispensary application, it also received an application from Pure Releaf for a proposed shop just doors away at 510-512 Yates.
Because the two shops would be within 200 metres of each other, council agreed with a staff recommendation to defer the Pure Releaf application while moving ahead with the one from Trees.
Mayor Lisa Helps said it’s past time for the federal government, which has jurisdiction over marijuana, to step in with its promised regulations.
“What I hope is the federal government tells us what to do really soon, because there’s a lack of enthusiasm for this whole process around our council table and it’s taking up time.”
The 200-metre distance is not set in stone and council has the discretion to vary it, Jonathan Tinney, director, community planning, has told councillors.
Tinney said ample advance notice was given to all applicants prior to the adoption of the policy for them to know what was required before submissions were accepted.
That being said, it is possible a retailer might submit an application before another, but see the other move ahead because of circumstances such as a slow response to unanswered questions.
“This is the fairest process we can undertake,” he said. “We have certainly no preference for one application or another. It is simply what we need to do in order to process the application in order to move them forward.”
Even with the 200-metre limit, the Downtown Victoria Business Association estimates there’s room for 20 to 30 cannabis retailers, said Coun. Margaret Lucas.
As one of council’s downtown liaisons, Lucas said her inbox has been inundated with emails from merchants worried about the numbers of potential marijuana retailers and potential problems with odours, ventilation and loitering.