Directors voted to make zoning bylaw changes to prohibit the production and sale of non-medical cannabis in residential and rural zones in the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) without a public hearing.
For months directors have been engaged in efforts to amend two zoning bylaws and finalized their decision to proceed without a public hearing, pursuant to Section 464 of the Local Government Act, at the Sept. 6 board meeting. The decision was made in part to allow for regulations to be put in place in time for the Oct. 17 federal cannabis legalization date.
The amendments would allow the SCRD to take a “closed-door” approach, prohibiting non-medical cannabis production and retail in residential and rural zones.
At a Sept. 6 planning committee where the recommendations were introduced, West Howe Sound director Ian Winn said he didn’t “see any other alternative” than to waive the public hearing until a time when the regional district is ready to re-open the door. “I don’t like to do it this way, I much rather have the public dialogue … but this is the situation we’re in,” he said.
Area A director Frank Mauro agreed with Winn, and pointed to the federal government’s implementation “rush” as the reason for waiving the hearing.
Mark Lebbell, Roberts Creek director, introduced a motion, which was carried, to incorporate public engagement into the bylaw review process. “Moving without a hearing is not something to be taken lightly but it is in the Local Government Act for a reason,” he said before introducing the motion. He also added that because business licences don’t exist in rural areas, “zoning regulations are one of our only tools to look at this.”
The staff report acknowledged that waiving a public hearing could diminish the accountability of the decision-making process, but “if the intent is to ‘close the door’ on cannabis production and retail on an interim basis, and open it again later, it is then during the process of ‘re-opening of the door’ where public participation will occur and be most effective.”
The SCRD will still need to get approval from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure because the zoning bylaws affect areas within a radius of 800 metres from a highway intersection, but they could opt out of referrals to advisory committees and First Nations, as well as public information meetings.
Fees for cannabis zoning and licensing applications were also established. It will cost applicants $4,275 to apply for rezoning and OCP amendments involving cannabis and up to $3,275 for a review and response to a retail cannabis licence application in a permitted zone.
The bylaw amendments passed first and second readings at the Sept. 6 board meeting. “In a very unusual situation we waived public hearing on this,” said chair Bruce Milne, noting a time factor was involved in the decision.
