Regional district opens up zoning for medical cannabis production

PENTICTON – The regional district is rethinking where medical cannabis production facilities should go in the region.

Past Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen policy has been to consider cannabis production facilities as an agricultural use and restricted their location to agricultural zones, in keeping with the Agricultural Land Commission’s interpretation.

Regional district Development Services manager Brad Dollevoet told a regional board committee meeting today, March 15, the regional district has been fielding a number of inquiries for medical marijuana production facilities, and the scale of the operations proposed has provided staff with the impetus to request a change in zoning.

Dollevoet said the size of the facilities range from 200,000 to 700,000 square feet.

“The administration sees a better fit in industrial, rather than agricultural lands,” he said, adding such zoning was better suited to the scale of such projects.

Penticton director Helena Konanz expressed concern a proliferation of profit driven medical cannabis operations might lead to big failures.

“What happens when one of these operations fail?” she asked, concerned the landscape would be marred by large, shuttered operations if the market doesn’t develop.

Penticton mayor Andrew Jakubeit compared marijuana production to the wine industry, noting competition hasn’t left derelict wineries dotting the countryside.

"The fear of a proliferation of businesses coming in to open these facilities, you could make that same argument of the wine industry," he says. "That industry is flourishing and those that had issues have been taken over by others. You don’t see a lot of dormant or empty wineries.

Jakubeit says adding industrial zoning might keep more agricultural land open for agricultural purposes.

“Let’s get involved in a trend that’s growing, and try to capitalize on it,” Jakubeit said.

The regional board agreed to include medical cannabis production as a permitted use in general industrial and heavy industrial zones.

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