Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jan 2014 Source: Chatham Daily News, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2014 Chatham Daily News Contact: http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/letters Website: http://www.chathamdailynews.ca Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1627 Author: Ellwood Shreve C-K ESTABLISHING CRITERIA FOR MARIJUANA FACILITIES An application for official plan and zoning bylaw amendments regarding medical marijuana processing facilities is being rolled together for council to consider. Establishing rules to allow this type of facility to be located in Chatham-Kent will be discussed at Monday's combined planning/council meeting on Monday. Rob Brown, planning consultant with Storey Samways Planning Ltd., said the proposed amendments will call for each medical marijuana processing facility application to be reviewed and zoned separately. He said this is a change from an original recommendation to have this type of facility be a permitted use under the existing general industrial zoning. Brown said because this type of facility involves producing a controlled substance that is technically illegal, there are policing and fire concerns to take into consideration, as well as ensuring it is built in a suitable location, preferably in an industrial area on the fringe of an urban centre. "It's hard to put something in the bylaw that allows you do that automatically," he said Senior planner, Marsha Coyne, said Chatham-Kent reviewed what other municipalities are doing with respect to these facilities. She added a meeting was also held with the technical advisory committee, which includes police, fire, engineering and public works, along with consulting the public to set criteria in the official plan to help guide councillors in their decision making. "We indicated that we'd like some buffers from facilities that we felt were more of a sensitive nature," she said. These include residential and institutional facilities, such as schools and churches, along with parks and recreation areas, she added Brown said there hasn't been "any form of negative feedback." He noted Health Canada's new Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations address many issues that would be of concern. About 90% of the official plan and zoning bylaw amendments proposed relied on the regulations that are already in place by Health Canada, Brown said. "The other 10% is really us looking at what is an appropriate location," he added. Brown believes if you read between the lines of Health Canada's regulations, the agency seems willing to respect municipalities' input in terms of where they would like to see these facilities go. But, he also believes if there is a lot of "push back" to these facilities - using the many strong objections by municipalities to industrial turbines as an example - there's a chance the government could take over the whole approval process. Monday's meeting also includes a zoning bylaw amendment application from an Ontario numbered company to allow for a medical marijuana production facility to be constructed on Longwoods Road. While there has been interest in Chatham-Kent and Essex, the same can't be said for the Sarnia-Lambton area. Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley, who also chairs the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership, said the idea of licensed grow operations has been mentioned in the community in recent months, but no firm proposals have surfaced. "It has been more suggestions, I would say, than real interest," he said. A Health Canada official said it has received more than 380 applications for licences, but only three have been approved and posted on the federal agency's website, so far. They include two in the Toronto area, plus one in Saskatchewan by the same company that has been growing medical marijuana for Health Canada's own distribution system. That soon-to-end federal system supplies roughly 4,000 of the approximately 37,000 people in the country authorized to possess marijuana for medical purposes. Mayor Randy Hope said there are four or five proposals for licensed grow operations in Chatham-Kent, adding it is potential investment officials welcome. "It is a business opportunity, especially here in Chatham-Kent," because of how "agriculturally diversified" the community is, Hope said. Hope added he doesn't believe medical marijuana is a controversial issue, today. "From an enforcement point of view, it's much better if it's institutionalized," he said. - - With files from Paul Morden, QMI Agency - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom