Pubdate: Mon, 24 Feb 2014
Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/5NyOACet
Website: http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531
Author: Ron Seymour

POT FARMING PLANS THREATENED BY CITY

Would-be commercial pot growers worry their business plans will go up
in smoke if the City of Kelowna bans marijuana production on
agricultural land.

Proponents say their considerable investments of time and money will
be wasted if council today accepts a staff recommendation to permit
legal grow-ops only in industrial zones.

"It just doesn't make good sense to recommend that an agricultural
product cannot be grown in an agricultural zone," say Marlys and Grant
Wolfe, owners of Falcon Ridge Farms.

Farmland properties have "low overhead and (a greater) ability to
expand" pot production compared to industrially zoned properties, says
Kevin Carta, founder of A Better Choice Medicinals.

At this afternoon's council meeting, the City of Kelowna is expected
to follow other municipalities and restrict federally licensed
marijuana growing operations only to industrial lands.

Industrial properties are said by municipal staff to be a better spot
for indoor marijuana properties than farmlands for a variety of reasons.

These include the possible negative impact on adjacent farms, limited
potential for re-purposing the property if the marijuana production
business shuts down, the necessity of building other structures on
farmland to support marijuana growing, and possible conflicts with
nearby residential areas.

Under looming changes to federal drug law, all licences currently
issued for the growing of marijuana for medicinal purposes within
private residences will expire March 31.

After that date, marijuana can only be legally grown by commercial
operators who have been federally licensed. Individual municipalities
have the authority to say where the operations can located.

The Falcon Ridge Farm owners say they've been working toward getting a
commercial licence to grow marijuana for two years.

"We applied for the commercial licence for medical marijuana as it
would be a good additional organic produce for the health products we
already grow, produce and offer for sale on our farm," they say.

They say they're surprised and dismayed the city may choose to
restrict such operations to industrial land.

"Why would this be allowed in any other zone before the zone for which
agriculture was intended?" they ask in a letter to council.

Last week, Lake Country also took steps to prevent legalized marijuana
growing operations from opening on farmland.

An active industrial zone is better suited for such operations, Lake
Country Mayor James Baker said, because byproducts such as smell and
the noise from venting fans would be less likely to bother adjacent
landowners.
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MAP posted-by: Matt