With legalized marijuana scheduled for August, it seems some communities in the Peace are left with uncertainty about regulations regarding where cannabis businesses can set up shop. The Mackenzie Municipal Services Agency is working with communities to determine where retail stores and production facilities will be located.
“We’re dealing directly with the land use issues,” says Municipal Planner Thomas Deming. “We have written reports to municipalities, given our recommendations to them, we’ve helped them with survey development, and also provided them with information to put on their websites.”
Deming says communities face a variety of challenges that come with legalization; a couple of them being waiting on provincial and federal governments to give them the information they need to act on their situation, and dealing with pressure from developers to begin the development process.
“A lot of municipalities have developers coming in, and their asking ‘Can we get the process started?’ and municipalities are not already prepared for it. The other circumstance is they’re not ready for it because they have no need to be, and no one is asking to begin the development process.”
Deming notes the closer legalization gets, the more clear the rules will become. He explains in terms of amending bylaws, there’s a specific timeline that has to be followed, and bylaws can’t be changed overnight.
“Municipalities act on the frontline of development, and they need to be prepared ahead of time. As they wait for the provincial government to release that info, and as well as how to adopt their bylaws, I think things will become clearer. The problem is, they’re running out of time as to when legalization will happen, and when they’ll actually be prepared to begin the development process.”
Deming adds the MMSA will be speaking at a number of councils coming up where they’ll be providing information and keeping councils informed on what the federal and provincial governments have been saying.
