Members of the public will have a chance to weigh in on a zoning amendment application to allow for cannabis micro-cultivation and production at an existing industrial building on a property off Field Road too small for the purpose under current zoning.
At a May 19 regular council meeting, District of Sechelt council gave second reading to an amendment that will reduce the minimum lot size requirement to 2,000 sq. metres for a property at 1862 Cosyan Place, triggering a public hearing.
The minimum lot size for cannabis micro-production and cultivation is 3,000 sq. metres.
The zoning amendment “is part of the legalization process of a previous operation,” said Sven Koberwitz, acting development planning manager with the district.
A 780-sq.-metre (8,400-sq.-ft.) building was constructed on the property in 2012 and has been used for cannabis cultivation since then, “leased to private citizens for medical cannabis production,” according to a February staff report.
The applicants are seeking to establish a facility within the building with a “growing canopy” of 200 sq. metres (2,152 sq. ft.), “and in accordance with Health Canada regulations.”
Coun. Tom Lamb recused himself from the discussion and vote, stating a conflict of interest since he owns the property.
District of Sechelt’s Advisory Planning Commission (APC) supported the application with a resolution in March, BC Hydro and the Sechelt Fire Department had no concerns, while Vancouver Coastal Health recommended that an engineer conduct an assessment “to determine if the existing sewerage system is adequate for potential increased flows or changes to wastewater characteristics associated with cannabis production.”
Council gave first reading to the application last February.
In a separate application considered at the May 19 meeting, council also approved a development variance permit for another cannabis production facility at 2224 Field Rd., at the junction of Sechelt Airport Forest Service Road and the Forest Service Road heading to Dakota Ridge.
The applicant wants to add a 483-sq.-metre (5,200-sq.- ft.) micro-cannabis production facility inside a building that was recently constructed on the property, which is part of the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR).
Since the footprint of the building is not expanded, it is allowed to be used for indoor cannabis cultivation and production, according to ALR use regulations.
However, the building stands roughly 60 metres from the property line, which isn’t allowed under the district’s zoning bylaw, which requires a 100-metre setback to for cannabis micro-cultivation.
Such a setback is “difficult to achieve,” said a staff report, because roads bisect the property.
Further, instead of creating a landscape buffer around the entire 15-hectare lot, the applicant has asked to buffer the perimeter of the building only.
Residents live on lots immediately to the south, but are more than 100 metres away, and according to staff, “there do not appear to be any foreseen conflicts with reducing the setbacks.”
Federal regulations require odour controls.
No objections from stakeholders were reported, while the APC asked for more details about the building and lighting and an updated landscaping plan to mitigate the appearance of the building.
Council supported the changes on the condition that the applicant provide a revised landscape plan.
However, during discussion, Lamb expressed frustration with the process, noting a berm and other landscaping already exists around the property that with time would obscure the building. “I believe that this has been a waste of time,” he said. “This is a 30-acre parcel on the very outskirts of Sechelt.”
He complimented staff on their work on his project. “They’ve been very thorough with me and done a great job for my project, but this is out in the bush. Somehow there has to be a short circuit for this, because we would have saved staff a whole bunch of time and energy.”
Mayor Darnelda Siegers noted the variance is supposed to allow the proponent to “come up with an alternative inside the policies we put in place” so they can move forward “in the most reasonably cost-effective way.”
She noted the cannabis regulations added to the zoning bylaw are relatively new, adopted in 2019, and suggested council could revisit them.
“When we put that policy together, we didn’t have any examples coming to us. Now we’re starting to see examples coming, so maybe it’s an opportunity for us to go back and look at the policy we put in place,” she said.
Chief administrative officer Andrew Yeates said staff have some limited delegation authority “in certain circumstances,” but a lot those authorities were stripped out of bylaws in Sechelt “many, many years ago.” He said staff are looking to see whether “some of those are reasonable to put back in place.”
