Opt-in, opt-out? High time Aurora makes decision on cannabis stores

Town hosting special meeting day before provincial deadline

YorkRegion.com
Jan 15, 2019
Teresa Latchford

The Town of Aurora will decide if residents will be able to purchase cannabis from a local store front this month.

Town council is set to discuss whether they will allow the operation of private retail cannabis stores in the municipality or prohibit them at a special council meeting on Jan. 21, just one day before the province’s deadline of Jan. 22.

Aurora, along with the City of Vaughan, are the last two municipalities to make a decision in York Region with all others deciding to opt-out of hosting the retail stores.

Residents were encouraged to provide the town with feedback via PlaceSpeak, the town’s outreach app to be shared with council in the form of a report that is scheduled to be released on Jan. 18, according to town spokesperson Stephanie Mackenzie-Smith.

“Members of the public are also encouraged to voice their thoughts on the matter by delegating at the special meeting of council on Jan. 21,” she added.

Those who wish to delegate at the meeting must submit a request form by Jan. 20 at 9 a.m. The form is available at Aurora.ca or at the clerk’s office at town hall.

Currently the town has received more than 1,500 responses to its call for feedback on the matter, which well surpasses the 380 needed to be considered a statistically significant research sample size.

Town solicitor Patricia De Sario has penned a report for council’s review the night of the special meeting of council. While the 20-page report provides a breadth of information from legalization history to the decision facing municipalities regarding storefronts, it does not make a specific recommendation.

The report simply concludes with two options; to opt-out and prohibit the operation of private cannabis retail stores in Aurora or to opt-in and permit the operation of such stores in town.

The report highlights include:

• The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) will regulate private cannabis retail stores and will enforce the Cannabis Licence Act, 2018, including operator licence, authorization, training of all employees;
• The act prohibits a municipality from enacting bylaws to license private cannabis retail stores or to designate them as a separate land use from other permitted retail use;
• Regulations contain restrictions on where private cannabis retail stores may be located, what may be sold and how they may be operated;
• If council opts-in, the AGCO will consider municipal and community input on the proposed location of the store;
• Private cannabis retail stores bring a new sector of economic development opportunities to the municipality;
• Increased funding will be available only to those municipalities that permit the retail stores;

 

If these stores are prohibited, residents still have access to cannabis through the Ontario Retail Corporation and other municipalities that permit retail stores.

“By permitting private cannabis retail stores, council would be supporting small businesses and creating new jobs within the town,” De Sario wrote in the report. “There would also be additional consumers from other communities that may not have otherwise come to Aurora.”

The province has stated that if Ontario’s portion of the federal excise duty on recreational cannabis over the first two years of legalization exceeds $100 million, 50 per cent of the surplus would only go to municipalities that permit the retail stores.

She also points out that every municipality, regardless of opting-in or opting-out of allowing retail cannabis stores would incur costs associated with the implementation of legalization including enforcement, increased response to public inquiries, increased fire and paramedic services and bylaw or policy development.

The province would provide Aurora with funding to tackle these costs including an initial payment of $26,324 and funding of $127.50 per 100 households. However, if the town opts-out, the next payment would be capped at $5,000 and Aurora wouldn’t be eligible for any surplus funds from the federal excise duty.

If town council decides to allow retail storefronts in town, staff recommend council request the AGCO not permit their location within 150 metres from daycares, nurseries, group homes, addiction facilities and public town facilities nor within 150 metres of each other.

The special council meeting will be held Jan. 21 at Aurora Town Hall, 100 John West Way, in council chambers beginning at 7 p.m.