Kelowna rejects indoor grow-op

Farmer’s application for medical marijuana facility belongs on industrial land, says city council

A Kelowna farmer won’t be able to add medical marijuana to a list of products that includes jams, vinegars, preserves and toothpaste.

City council voted 7-2 on Monday against Marlys Wolfe’s application for an indoor pot-growing facility on her Rifle Road property, known as Falconridge Farms.

Such establishments, a majority of council members said, should be located on industrial lands. That’s been the city’s position for a number of years, they said.

“We have a rule and we need to stick by it. Otherwise, what are our rules worth?” said Coun. Mohini Singh.

An indoor pot-growing facility with a concrete base, as proposed by Wolfe, diminishes the overall agricultural capacity of farmland, several council members said.

“I have to stay consistent with what I believe in, which is the preservation of farmland,” said Mayor Colin Basran. “This (application) doesn’t meet our agricultural plan.”

Council heard Wolfe has an application with Health Canada to grow medical marijuana. A condition of that application is the pot be grown indoors.

But new provincial regulations, approved in July by the NDP government, say B.C. farmers cannot grow pot inside a building with a concrete floor unless the structure in question existed before the summer.

That restriction was a response to a flood of new applications for large greenhouses, to be used specifically for growing marijuana, on productive Lower Mainland agricultural properties.

Coun. Brad Sieben supported Wolfe’s application for a non-farmuse permit that would allow the pot-growing facility. His rationale was that she had submitted plans for the facility to the city earlier this year, before the provincial government changed the rules, and it should be considered an instream application.

Coun. Charlie Hodge said Wolfe’s farm was a “neat, funky place” where the growing of medical marijuana would be a complimentary use.

But with council’s decision, Wolfe’s application will not even be forwarded to the Agricultural Land Commission for its consideration.